All Alone in a Dusty Room
by GoldenWhiteRose
Summary: 'A man cannot live by bread and ale alone.' Tom explores his feelings towards Alice and struggles to find the balance between friendship, love and sexual attraction.
1. Chapter 1

**Here it is :) A slow start, set just after Alice started living with the Spook and Tom; I'm sure all countries will have their own names for that book :P Let me know if anything offends you, I'm more than happy to oblige, same with any requests And thank you to Winnie for all her great help XD Those of you who haven't read her stories yet, check them out **

My master had given me and Alice leave to spend a day away from our work and just please ourselves. I was sure he'd meant for us to spend the day separately but it had been Alice's idea, seeing as it was such nice weather, for us to go up one of the fells with a picnic she made herself

By late morning my body was starting to sweat with the exertion of climbing the fell, carrying the picnic basket Alice had prepared. It was an aromatic July afternoon and it was days like this that the heat really got inside your body and roasted you from the inside out.

Alice had let go of my hand a moment ago and as I watched her climbing through the yellow grass ahead of me I appreciated the view of her hips swinging and the way her dress skimmed suggestively over her bottom. As I tried to suppress the slowly increasing warmth in my crotch Alice turned to grin at me as though she knew. I grimaced guiltily and picked up my pace to draw level with her.

"Come on, Tom, don't tell me you're getting tired already." She teased, taking hold of my hand again. I felt another prickle in my armpits at the guilt of what I was feeling down below on what should have been a careless and peaceful day. Alice and I drew closer together and she rested her head on my shoulder. Her silky hair tickled my cheek and, without thinking, I wrapped my arm around her, purposefully clenching the muscles so they would feel harder. Alice lifted her head and flashed me a mischevious smile,

"Bet you I can reach the top of the hill first" she teased. I took my arm from around her shoulders and smacked her bottom gently.

"Go on, then, I'll race you." I replied, picking my pace up to a run. Alice, who'd had a small head-start, made a face of false shock at my smack and giggled, sprinting ahead, her summer scent breezing after her.

We reached the top of the fell to be greeted by a blissful warmth and birdsong. Alice was sat cross-legged next to a large jagged rock and smiling at me, as pretty and innocent as a high-born girl half her age. I strolled over to her and dropped the basket next to her before sitting down facing her.

Alice giggled and leaned forward slightly so that the tips of her hair touched my chest and I could gaze into her eyes. I gave a short nervous chuckle at the strange intimacy of the situation and Alice giggled gently. She sat back on her heels and tossed her hair gently, my eyes inevitably drawn to the subtle bounce of her breasts as she did so.

"Tom," Alice scolded, lifting my chin up, "eyes on the face!"

"A man cannot live by bread and ale alone" I smirked, quoting the common excuse of the village men.

Alice gave me a gentle push in the chest "You're not a man yet, Tom, you're still a scrawny boy." She warned me. I put my hands on her waist and ran them over her hips.

"So what does that make you?" I whispered cheekily.

Alice placed the picnic basket between us.

"Hungry" she smirked.

We laughed as we ate and then lay down in the grass to watch the sun go down, side by side and enjoying each other's warmth as we held hands. Truly Alice was the best friend I had ever had; my master was wrong to assume that we were anything more. We were sometimes a little playful, like we had been today, but I'm sure I'm like a brother to Alice. Girls like that don't go for scrawny boys.

**So what do you think? Just dipping my toe in the water :P**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all your great reviews, your support means a lot! Any requests or suggestions? And, as always, lots of love to Winnifred Artemis and I demand that you check out her stories :P Love also to Emmy and Kate- keep the magic going **

Laying back under the stars Alice and I had lost track of time and fallen asleep on the picnic blankets, holding hands side by side. When we awoke it was to a howling gale of rain and wind; the icy rain lashing mercilessly against our thin clothes. Alice rolled into me and we wrapped the picnic blankets around ourselves to try and keep warm. This proven futile, however, and soon we were both so cold our bodies ached.

Alice was worse. There was no doubt about it; she was shivering uncontrollably and her lips were beginning to acquire a blue tinge.

Of course, I'd already given her my both picnic blankets and wrapped her up in them as tightly as I could but for some reason Alice just couldn't keep warm. I'd tried to light a fire but the harsh winds kept blowing it out. I'd even tried chafing her skin to try and increase circulation but all that had done was further numb the parts that I hadn't rubbed.

I'd tried just about everything I could to keep Alice warm but she was still whimpering with cold. She couldn't even feel her own body. That's why I did it. I don't care what anyone else says or thinks; I did it for Alice, not for me. Not for my own twisted pleasure, but to help Alice survive the night… I gave her the heat of my own body.

I slowly and unwillingly removed my shirt and Alice, thinking I was going to offer it her, shook her head profusely.

"Y-y-y-you-u-u k-k-eep it-t T-t-tom. It-t's s-s-so c-cold." She protested, barely able to speak because her face was that numb and her teeth were chattering that hard. I didn't want her to waste her energy arguing with me and gently rested my hand on her arm.

"Sshh, just trust me." I whispered, emphasising the word 'trust'.

I then removed my boots and socks and finally the picnic blankets covering Alice. She gave a small sob of pain as more cold shot through her.

I gently pulled my shirt onto her body and then eased my breeches to halfway up her thigh, not wanting to venture further and possibly scare her. I tugged her shoes off and put my warm socks onto her feet instead and finally spread her one of the blankets out underneath her for insulation against the cold ground. Then came the tricky bit.

Moving very slowly so as not to frighten her, I lay down on top of her and then pulled the second blanket over the top of us like a blanket. As soon as I had completed that action I felt extremely foolish and awkward, neither of us knowing what to do next.

"T-tha-anks, To-om." Alice chattered. She was still cold but warmer than before.

At first her body was like ice beneath me and I began to shiver too, but then we gradually warmed up. I still didn't know what to do, however, or even where to put my arms so I just left them hanging by my sides. It was Alice who decided for me. She timidly reached up and put her arms around my neck, waiting for my reaction. When I did not rebuke her she tightened her grip around me and lifted herself up momentarily. I took the hint and put my arms around her waist. She lowered herself back onto my arms with a small contented smile. We lay there in comfortable silence.

"Well, this is cosy." Said Alice after a long while. I'd lost track of time completely but it must have been quite some time since we last spoke if Alice could talk normally again. "Here, you must be freezing." She said, removing her arms from around my neck and tugging my breeches down to offer them back to me.

No sooner had she spoken than the wind whipped up again and the sleet started. This was even worse than before.

I pulled the blanket up over our heads and took my breeches off her to lay at our feet so our toes didn't freeze. She insisted on giving me my shirt back so I accepted, wondering if she might be uncomfortable and if I should put my breeches back on.

I needn't have concerned myself. As soon as I'd pulled my shirt on, before I'd even had chance to button it, Alice's arms were back round my neck. I held her in my arms again and was relieved when I felt her skin was almost warm again.

"Let's have a little nap." I suggested to her. She nodded and burrowed down into my chest, her head resting on my shoulder. I chuckled and tried to tuck the edges of my shirt around her. I suddenly saw a mischievous glint in her eye as she grinned up at me.

"You know, Tom… my feet are awfully cold." She began in that teasing tone she sometimes uses when we are alone together.

I took the hint and started to take my shirt off but she took my wrist and interrupted me., tapping me on the nose.

"No, Tom you've given up enough of your clothing tonight." She continued in that same teasing tone that I knew better than to argue with.

I didn't know where to look as she untied the string at her waist and then gently slid her dress off, down her legs, burying it at our feet. She looked up at me to check for a reaction, although I tried desperately to disguise it, as she lay next to me, this time wearing just her binding and loincloth. I could feel our cheeks burning as they pressed together. We certainly wouldn't have been doing this if Mr Gregory were with us.

That thought sparked some sort of rebellion in me and I pulled Alice even closer and gently stroked her hair. She giggled and blushed but after a while her eyelids began to droop and she fell asleep in my arms.

I can't tell you how pleasant it was to hold her in my arms that night and feel her breath against my chin. To watch the way her red lips pouted slightly as she dreamed and to feel the way her chest rubbed against mine as she breathed. She always fell asleep before me but she always woke up before me too. I wondered what she would see when she woke up and whether she was enjoying my company as much as I was enjoying hers.

But, like I said, I didn't do what I did that night for any of those reasons. Not for my own pleasure or to try and bring Alice closer to me. Not so that I would have something to brag about or so I would be able to blackmail her later. Just because she was cold. And because I love her.

And because I was definitely NOT expecting what happened next…

**Not to disappoint but I don't think it is what you think it is… but I guess you'll just have to wait to find out :O Yes, I am a munckin. **


	3. Chapter 3

**And I'm back :P Lots of love to Emmy, Kate and of course Winny- the wonderful Winnifred Artemis :D **

The morning bloomed bright and warm, the sun golden and the birds singing. Alice and I had huddled closer in the night, my arms and Alice's legs had wrapped around each other. I awoke to Alice smirking at me mischeviously,her hair all tousled from sleeping rough.

"Sleep well?" She asked me teasingly.

"Yeah, I slept well thanks, but how about you? Did you get cold again?" Alice grinned

"I slept alright... but I couldn't really get comfy. Like something hard kept poking me." She teased, grinning broadly and I felt my cheeks burn with shame. She laughed and shook her hair before leaning forward until our noses touched.

"It was a pretty wild night" I agreed, tousling her hair a little more, my fingers curling themselves into the tips of her hair, my knuckles resting on the swell of her breasts. Her red lips parted slightly and our faces tilted towards each other. I felt my lips begin to tingle as we continued to tilt our faces towards each other, maintaining tender eye contact.

"Cosy, are we?" My masters gruff voice growled somewhere behind me, ruining our moment. We jerked apart guiltily, my hands instantly dropped from Alice's breasts and our bodies completely seperated. We sat up straight, Alice holding the blanket against her chest. "When neither you nor the girl came back last night, lad, I was concerned and this morning I set out to find you. I'm glad I did because it looks like there really is nothing between your ears."

Angrily he came forward and pulled the blankets from our bodies, revealing our immodesty. I was naked, my early morning hunger painfully evident and I felt tears of shame prick behind my eyes but I was not going to cry in front of Alice. Alice was lying in just her binding and loincloth, considerably less shamed, only her pale well-formed legs and stomach vulnerable to the gaze. "It looks like you didn't listen to me at all, lad! You've allowed this Deane whore to seduce you lure you into her bed! And once she's got you to lie with her once, it'll be child's play for her to bring you back." He snapped, throwing the blankets back over us as Alice came to her feet in anger.

"Alice is no whore!" I cried indignantly. "We shared the blankets because of the storm!"

"That's rubbish!" Alice cried. "I ain't a whore and I wouldn't control Tom, no matter what. Ain't nothing like the other witches, and I ain't easy neither!" Snatching up her dress and shoes into a little bundle in her arms Alice ran off into the trees and I was unable to follow her.

My master tossed me my trousers disdainfully. "Cover yourself up, lad. We've got work to do today." Obediently I pulled my breeches up but not to follow my master back to the house. I ran after Alice through the trees and found her, also dressed, curled up in a ball. She had her head buried on her arms and was weeping into her knees. She raised her head as I approached and I ran to crouch beside her.

"You don't think I'm easy do you, Tom?" She choked out through her tears. I put my arm around her shoulders.

"No, Alice, of course I don't." I told her soothingly. "You're the best-looking girl in the village and you haven't been with a single one."

Alice smiled at me weakly, drying her eyes on her wrists. "Not even Tommy Filch, the blonde one who's built like a mountain." She smirked. I gently took her chin in my hand.

"Not even Tommy Filch." I whispered. "Not even Tommy Ward." My lips stopped less than the width of my little finger from her lips.

"Not even Tommy Ward" she repeated. I closed that distance between her lips and kissed her fully. My tongue gently traced my lips. Then I stood up and raced off, laughing in childish exhuberence. I snatched up my shirt, boots and socks, not even caring as I ran down the hill, topless and bare-foot, still laughing. I had kissed Alice. And I think she liked it.

**Spread the luuurve in a review if you have suggestions :P**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks to all my loyal readers! The next update is following soon :)**

To make up for the blissful day Alice and I had enjoyed yesterday my master seemed determined to work us as hard as possible today, setting both me and Alice an enormous amount of copying and translating as well as ordering me to dig three pits in the afternoon.

In the morning Alice and I sat at the kitchen table, her copying from one book into another and me memorizing Latin verbs.

All through the morning, sat facing each other under my master's furious gaze, Alice and I had occassionally dared to give each other flirtatious looks, basking in our secret kiss.

In the afternoon Mr Gregory had been obliged to retire to his library in order to continue his study of the lives of previous spooks. Leaving Alice at the kitchen table and me in the southern garden, my master set me to work with a measuring rod and shovel.

After around three quarters of an hour I had completed one pit and started on the second. I'd also worked up a thick sweat in the hope of finishing early and getting to spend some time with Alice. Alone it seemed harmless to take my shirt off (having already removed my jerkin.) The breeches were old ones from when I first arrived with Mr Gregory but they still fitted alright although they now hung low, revealing a line of pubic hair.

I continued to dig, working hard, before I sensed that I was being watched. I turned around to see Alice, sat on a fallen tree trunk and smiling at me cheekily. I was suprised but started to dig harder, wanting to show off in front of my audience. Alice was watching me intently and I smirked with pride.

Working furiously I noticed little else but I kept hearing a strange rustling noise and when I next glanced at Alice over my shoulder she looked a little on edge but what really confused me was the way she was rubbing her legs together. Before I could muse on this subject any further, however, I heard my master's voice calling. He sounded gruff uso I left the garden immediately and went straight to the library, leaving Alice sat alone outside.

**Stay tuned! Next time the heat is really turned up :P**


	5. Chapter 5

**Many thanks to all my faithful followers! Sorry for the wait- exam season :P Anyways, a nice longey for you- let me know if it goes too far, I'm happy to change anything that offends **

It was two weeks before my master even allowed Alice and I to spend any time alone together but after a prolonged period of hard work and begging I had succeeded in persuading him to grant permission for me and Alice to go out for a drink at the local tavern- the Friendly Lantern- on the provision that we would be back at a decent time the next morning and, under no circumstances, do anything remotely sexual. So saying Mr Gregory gave me a single golden guinea and sent me away from my work early so as to give me time to get ready.

I was more than a little nervous about my evening out with Alice, even though I knew we were just going as friends and nothing more, and wanted to look my best. In the end I decided not to overdo things and just put on a clean shirt and pair of breeches. I combed my hair and brushed my teeth before climbing the stairs two at a time up to Alice's room. When Alice opened the door the first thing I noticed was her shy smile and, secondly, that she had changed into a new dress my master must have bought for her- I'd never seen it before. She closed the door softly behind her and I took her hand and led her down the stairs, out of the house and into the village.

The Friendly Lantern was a large tavern and usually quite busy but tonight was exceptional, it was like everyone in the village had turned up. The poorest and lowest villagers were sat outside, tankards clutched in their hands trying to forget about their fifteen hungry children back at home while the rest of the villages huddled inside and sipped. I bought Alice and myself a cider each and we took a table near to the fire, unnoticed by fellow drunken patrons.

We sipped our drinks slowly, laughing and joking, while Alice asked me questions about my life before becoming an apprentice. I told her about my life on the farm, all the wise sayings my dad had taught me and the antics my brothers had got up to but I noticed that Alice didn't volunteer any information herself about her life before coming to live with us. Thinking that perhaps I was being rude for not asking more questions about her early life I stopped mid-story and changed the topic to her.

"But what about you, Alice? I've told you all about me but I still don't know anything about you before we met."

"What do you want to know?" Alice seemed a little on her guard and I noticed her physically withdraw from me. "I never grew up on a farm or had brothers. I've been on my own this whole time- there's nothing to tell."

"Well, what were your parents like? Who did you play with?" I asked, taking her hand to convey my genuine interest. Alice turned her face away and I saw genuine sorrow written there.

"Ain't nothing to tell, Tom. Come on, don't spoil such a lovely night, tell me more about _your_ family."

I decided not to try and press Alice any further- her early life clearly held a lot of pain for her and I didn't want to make her tell me something she wasn't ready for.

A short time later, feeling the call of nature, I excused myself to the bathroom but was obliged by the sound of vomiting to instead take myself and my bladder outside. As I concentrated on spraying only the gutter and not myself- after rather a lot of cider- I heard noises from the ginnel down the side of the pub. The sort of noises lovers usually make. As I tried to ignore the noises and focus on my aim they seemed to grow louder and louder and I found myself reminded of Alice and the more lurid dreams I sometimes have of the two of us together- especially since that night on the fell.

I had finished relieving myself and really should have gone back inside but instead I found myself not wanting to invade the couple's private time- if it could be called private time down a ginnel- but listening all the while, straining my ears to work out exactly what was going on. I thought I heard pleasing evidence of the success of one of my own ideas just before the noises changed to low declarations of love and the sounds of kissing.

I dashed back inside the tavern to find Alice still sitting by the fire, looking a little bored- I'd not realised how long I'd been gone. I went over to her and smiled before taking her hand and leading her back to the Spook's house. Our evening was almost over but I couldn't concentrate on how nice it had been or even the tenderness and warmth of holding Alice's hand. All I could think about was what I had heard down that ginnel and whether or not I would ever get the chance to do some of those things with Alice- or even at all in the Spooks' life of celibacy when Mr Gregory berated me even for relieving my own tensions too often. That caused my thoughts to wander to Alice and whether or not she sometimes felt the same way about me- did Alice ever relieve her tensions herself? Did she even have any to relieve?

Feeling incredibly dirty and ashamed for even getting onto that train of thought I forced those indecent desires to the back of my mind and instead focused on what Alice was saying- about how beautiful the sky was tonight and teaching me the names of some stars I hadn't noticed before. She told me a Pendle story, too, about how the earth was a woman known as "the mother" and the sky was a girl known as "the maiden" and how they had come to acquire those names.

All too soon we arrived back at the Spook's house and, not wanting to disturb Mr Gregory, we crept up the stairs and I escorted Alice back to her room.

"Goodnight, Tom." She whispered and leaned forward for her usual goodnight kiss. I kissed her softly, tenderly and put one hand behind her head to gently stroke her hair before pulling back- it was late and I didn't want her to think I had any indecent intentions.

"Goodnight, Alice." So saying I went back to my own room and undressed for bed before taking a little time for myself. I knelt up on the bed and thought of Alice in the purest way I could. I imagined it was our wedding night and we had just made love for the first time and now she wanted to try something new; taking my member into her mouth and playing with it until I found release. I imagined her telling me seductively about how much she wanted to do this and I imagined caressing her bare breasts as she did so, gently sucking on the skin of her neck. As I began to really enjoy myself I stopped and gasped. A shard of ice was being pressed into my back warning me of the approach of something from the dark.

"She is a pretty little thing isn't she?" I froze in horror as I recognised the sneering voice of Bony Lizzie in my ear. I'd thought that after my master had bound her in a pit she would be no danger to anyone but clearly I was wrong. "A clever girl, is Alice, and a beauty. She's had more than you on his knees cuddling his cock."

I felt my muscles seize up and tears of shame pricked behind my eyes. I snatched up my breeches and was about to put them back on before I heard the most tantalising sound of my life: the lust-filled whimper of a woman. A fresh flush of blood to my member made my giddy; Alice's bedroom was directly above mine and I felt certain it was her making the noise.

"She wants you too, you know" Lizzie purred in my ear "she's got her pillow underneath her and she's riding it. Dripping wet and rubbing her pretty twat all over it . Wouldn't you like to help her?"

My entire body burned to acquiesce but I forced myself to hold back.

"What? Wouldn't you like to really give her something to moan about? To reach that spot _deep_ inside her. She'd let you, you know- you wouldn't be her first- but of course you're just a boy and don't have the balls to do you?

I abruptly realised that I had failed to withstand and was beginning to pleasure myself again. Lizzie gave a mocking laugh and I realised that she was, in some way, trying to bend me to her will and attempting to use Alice to do so. The thought angered me- she was using Alice as some sort of bargaining chip, a sex slave almost. That rage caused all my lust to disappear and replace itself with fury.

"Alice is not my pleasure toy or your bargaining chip!" I growled internally to the sneering voice inside my head. "She's my friend and I care about her and neither you nor anyone else will cause me to treat her as anything less!" What I did not declare, because a tiny part of me worried that maybe I was wrong, was that I was also sure that Lizzie was lying- that Alice had never been even remotely intimate with another boy.

I dragged on my breeches and flew down the stairs and out of the back door, trying to get as far away from the tempting, infuriating voice as I could. I staggered to the tree at the bottom of the garden that my master made me practise skewering with my staff. My rage manifested in the only way I knew how as I kicked and hit the tree until the bark peeled off, my anger expressing itself in the form of wordless shouts.

My master always slept heavily but Alice was a light sleeper and shortly after she came running barefoot out of the house, dressed in her usual black dress with her hair all tousled, her eyes wide and wild. She looked very pale and had obviously been crying. Without a word she ran to me and put her arms around my neck, sobbing into my chest. I'd comforted Alice as best I could but all she would say was that she'd had a nightmare. She didn't say what about.

**Thank you and lots of love to all my readers- especially my faithful friend WinnifredArtemis :D Thanks! BTW what do we think of a Pendle clan fic? Which coven? **


	6. Chapter 6

Sorry for the wait guys :) Thanks for reading. Too porn-y? I'll remove it at once! :)

After a while I managed to calm Alice down and we headed to the bench in the western garden to sit together and look out at the night sky. We sat there with Alice's head resting on me and my arm around her shoulders.

"Why do you think he hates me so much?" Alice said softly.

"You mean Mr Gregory?" I asked caressing her bare arm with the backs of my fingers.

"My dad." That suprised me, Alice's dad had been dead a long time and I'd never heard her mention him before.

"I'm sure he loved you really, Alice. You're his daughter."

Alice raised her head and shook it firmly. "No. No he hated me my dad. Took his belt to me most days, he did, and beat me on the others. Me mam wasn't much better but she was always like that. My dad made a big thing of me once, bought me pretty ribbons and called me his little princess. It all changed when I was still really young though and he stopped being nice to me. Started calling me a little devil child and a bastard; told me I was no daughter of his. That was when I started feeling his fist."

I tucked her back under my arm and kissed the top of her head. "Who knows why he turned like he did, Alice? I'm sure it was nothing you did. Sometimes people just turn for funny reasons."

"You won't ever turn on me will you, Tom?" Asked Alice lifting her head again to look me in the eye. Her long curly black eyelashes framed her deep brown eyes beautifully and made it impossible for me to look away.

"How could I ever turn on you, Alice? You mean more to me than anyone else in this world."

Suddenly Alice sprang up and grabbed my left hand, pulling me to my feet also.

"Got something to show you Tom, I have, but we have to hurry." So saying she started to tug me off into the trees and I stumbled along after her.

We jogged, still holding hands, through the woods to the stream where I had killed Mother Malkin. Then Alice turned to me, placed her hands on my chest and began to speak softly in my ear.

"You've never seen a woman have you, Tom? Never been with a girl?" I shook my head uncertainly and Alice grinned and stepped back from me. "I want to see you, Tom. And I want you to see me."

So saying she swept her hair onto her shoulder and began deliberately untying the string about her waist. She pushed the sleeves of her dress off her shoulders and pulled it down over her breasts and allowed it to fall to her bare feet.

While I stared in aroused amazement she reached behind her and began to undo her binding. This she also allowed to fall to the floor leaving her standing bare-breasted before me. She was breathing heavily, as was I, her breasts rising and falling with each breath she took while her nipples hardened in the cool air. She held my gaze and, as though the same spell that had influenced Alice also gripped me, I too found myself undressing.

As I pulled off my breeches and cast them away Alice eased off her loincloth and we both stood before each other, bare and entranced.

I approached Alice slowly without breaking our gaze. She took my hands and started walking backwards slowly until we were both stood waist-deep in the water. And then she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me.

As our slippery tongues slid around each other, exploring, Alice's hands explored my chest, trauling seductively down my stomach at one point- and it was right and natural.

I slid my hands up her back and started kissing her neck, gently sucking. As she began making soft noises of desire I cupped her breasts tentatively. She nodded and, emboldened, I kneaded gently and encircled her nipples with my thumbs. I pulled her closer to me and we began kissing again, our tongues gently pushing against each other.

She took my left hand and laid it against her private area, gyrating hotly against me as I slowly grew into the motion of rubbing and grinding the right areas.

Alice started panting, moaning and trembling as the pace gathered, at last falling against me and giving a loud cry at the height of her pleasure. I too then took Alice's hand and, kissing her, began to guide her as how to best pleasure my own loins.

Alice quickly found a good speed and technique which-despite not being as practised as my own- was intoxicating in its pleasure.

Hot blood and pleasure coursed rapidly through my member, tightening my loins. I brought Alice close, pressing her lips against mine in a sensual, heated kiss as I spilled my pleasure into the river to be carried away downstream.

Alice and I continued to kiss and caress each others bodies, the water continually washing away any evidence of wrong-doing. But nothing could wash the stain from my conscience or the worry from my mind. Had I taken advantage of Alice? Or had I just played right into Lizzie's hands?


	7. Chapter 7

That day Alice and I were inseperable, unable and unwilling to resist each other's company. Our morning of pleasure was still fresh in our minds but even more so was the new bond formed between us.

What Alice had given me would spoil her in the eyes of the gentry she had dreamed of marrying into since she was a little girl. What I had given Alice that morning was enough to end my apprenticeship and banish me to a trade where I would lose all chance of a future and earn a pittance.

Alice had trusted me not only with a small piece of her virtue, but also with her body and her pleasure. She slept in my bed every night now, laid tight against my side with my arm around her and her head resting on my chest.

Whereas my morning erection had previously been satisfied by myself I had found Alice to be perhaps more enthusiastic than myself. We had not yet become one body entirely but we frequently pleasured each other using our hands and I had found that Alice was more thoroughly pleasured by the careful insertion of fingers into her womanhood. Having found a hot, hard nub at the front of her womanhood was one of my greatest achievements and it had proved to be extremely effective at pleasuring her, particularly when gently circled and rubbed.

Equally, Alice had found further techniques of how to pleasure me and these she employed frequently, fondling my loins and brushing gently against my foreskin.

This evening, however, had been different as Alice and I had pleasured each other with our tongues for the first time.

As we lay in bed cuddling, my hand working deftly between Alice's open legs as she convulsed and whimpered. Emboldened, I withdrew my hand, causing an outraged noise from Alice, and lay her on her back before throwing the covers on the floor and beginning to travel down her body.

Alice bucked her private areas up to me desperately but I avoided it tactfully, chosing instead to kiss her lower stomach and inner thighs. Alice continued to squirm to try and force my mouth to her swollen womanhood but I managed to avoid pleasuring her just yet.

Alice whimpered loudly so I pressed my lips to her in a kiss and gently spread her lips with my tongue. I gave her inner flesh a few cautious flicks of my tongue causing Alice to moan loudly and wind my fingers through my hair, forcing me against her. I got into the rhythm of pushing my tongue deep into her opening, swirling for a second, and then withdrawing it almost completely to administer a hard flick to her hot nub.

As Alice began to shake and her sighs become louder and more breathless I also used my hands to circle her nipples and knead her breasts. Alice climaxed loudly and, as her fingers relinquished my hair and her juices filled my mouth I considered how truly lucky I was to have someone like Alice- someone whom I could trust completely while having such a fiery sexuality. I felt both wholehearted love and untamable lust for Alice- although this was certainly one encounter with a witch I would not be telling my master about. I belonged to someone else now.


	8. Chapter 8

It was three days after our discovery of my ability to pleasure Alice using my mouth and tongue although my exceptionally heavy work load had prevented us from further discovery. My master seemed to be working especially hard to prevent me from spending any time alone with Alice and we had barely had a moment since Mr Gregory had detected a certain odour lingering on my bed linen.

I was sat at the desk in my master's library, studying the accounts of previous spooks, when the door opened a fraction and an exceptionally pretty girl with a mischevious smile put her head around and smiled at me.

"Alice!" I exclaimed, suprised that she would dare to enter my master's library- the one room she had been expressly forbidden from entering. "You know you're not supposed to be here- if Mr Gregory finds out..."

"If Old Gregory found out half the things we got up to, Tom, the shock would kill him." Alice whispered back cheekily, entering the library and leaning back against their door to close it. She held my gaze seductively as she turned the key in the lock and I felt my cheeks burn. Alice giggled

"All that's happened and I can still make you blush, Tom" Alice whispered, shaking her head disbelievingly, as she stalked towards me.

She reached behind her and pulled her shoes off her feet before dropping herself in my lap. Her hair tickled my cheek as she pressed her face against my neck, planting soft kisses and gentle nips as she slowly began to unbutton my shirt. I longed to submit to her seductive tongue and skilled hands, my crotch already burning yet I summomed all my willpower and found the stregnth to pull her hands away.

"No, Alice," I told her softly but she ignored me, biting my bottom lip while her hands explored my exposed chest. "Alice, please listen" I begged, knowing I would lack the stregnth to resist if she pushed me any further.

"You're mine Thomas Ward" she whispered in my ear, guiding my hand up her bare, smooth calve.

"No Alice!" I cried, forcefully this time. She pulled back in shock and I saw the hurt in her eyes- and a trace of anger too. I knew Alice's pride and my refusal was bound to have hurt it.

"I can't do this Alice, it's wrong of me, I can't keep taking advantage of you."

"Who's taking advantage, Tom?" Alice answered, annoyed.

"It's wrong of me Alice, I can't keep kissing you and touching you-"

"Why not, Tom?" Alice interrupted impatiently. "Not coming over all holy are you?"

"I don't want you to do something you'll regret, Alice... and there's something else. I heard Lizzie."

"Lizzie?"

"Bony Lizzie. She spoke to me the other night when I was thinking about you and it seemed like she wanted me to go further. She kept urging me on, trying to get me to come to you."

"Was that the night when I found you out by the tree, Tom?" She asked me softly, her previously annoyed gaze now tender.

"Yeah and then when we went down to the river... well afterwards all I could think about was whether or not I'd let myself go to the dark and taken advantage of you. I couldn't stop thinking about why I'd done what I'd done..."

"I know why we did it, Tom." Alice whispered gently. "It wasn't lust."

"I... I..." I struggled to find the words but Alice placed her fingers gently over my lips.

"Just kiss me, Tom." She whispered. I obeyed.

As our kisses became more passionate I swept the books off the desk and lifted Alice up onto it. As we lay back, Alice's legs wrapped loosely around my waist we were startled by the sound of my master coming up the stairs.

We lay still, hardly daring to breathe, while we heard him walk past the library and into his map room at the end of the corridor.

We giggled quietly, our passion killed by the terror of a few moments and Alice disentagled her legs from around me.

We stayed laid on the desk, content in each other's arms, while Alice studied the high ceiling. I kissed the top of her head.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked her gently.

"When this house belongs to us, Tom, we'll fill it to the rafters with children."

I was suprised but not unpleasantly so. We had never previously spoken of marriage and children and, in truth, I had been unsure of Alice's feelings on the subject.

"Would you like that, Alice?" I whispered, holding her closer.

"I'd want lots of babies, Tom- if I could have them with you. Would you like that?"

"I'd want to fill this house to the rafters with you, Alice. With us."

THANKS SO MUCH TO KITTYGIRL320 FOR ALL HER HELP AND TO ALL MY WONDERFUL, ENDURING, EVER-PATIENT READERS :D LOVE YA! NEW UPDATE SOON


	9. Chapter 9

ALICE

An hour after supper I went downstairs to make myself a cup of tea only to find Old Gregory sat at the table, glowering over his dusty old books.

"What are you doing down here, girl?" He demanded, looking me up and down as though I was something he'd found half rotten behind the skirting boards. "I thought you were meant to be working on those translations?"

"Just come down to get a cup of tea, taking a well-earned break I am." I answered bluntly, annoyed at being spoken to as a prisoner rather than a guest.

"I'm not standing any of your cheek, girl. As long as I put a roof over your head, food on your plate and clothes on your back I deserved to be treated with respect. When you're under my roof, you follow my rules."

"Working for my keep aren't I?" I interuppted, annoyed. "Pick up your filthy socks and copy from your dirty old books without a word of thanks."

"You should be thankful, girl, I haven't thrown you out on the streets!" Old Gregory exploded with rage. "I've given you a good life out of the goodness of my heart and you turn my house- the home of countless spooks before me- into your whore's den!"

"I ain't no one's whore!" I cried, stamping my foot. The room instantly became dark and cold but I was too angry to care whether I lost control and I felt some small satisfaction at seeing the experienced spook flinch. I raised my fist and allowed the shadows swirling around my feet to begin to constrict his old, veiny neck.

"I ain't nobody's whore, Old Gregory, and you better take that back right away." I heard how low and dangerous my voice sounded, like Lizzie when she was threatening someone... and I didn't care.

"I'll never bend to a witch or a trollop like you." He gasped as he was slowly asphyxiated. I felt my body grow hotter with anger and my cheeks were burning. Instead I said nothing but merely raised my chin and allowed the shadows to begin pulling Old Gregory at the wrists and ankles. He gave a strangled cry of pain and squeezed his eyes tightly shut, his face twisted in pain.

"I'm so-rry" he choked out, his spit flecked with blood.

"Louder."

I was afraid, then, because I really did sound like Lizzie but I didn't know how to back down without losing my hold and risking being sent away. So I turned and ran away up the stairs into Tom's room and throwing myself under the covers.

Tom sat frozen at his desk for a moment before smiling at me tenderly.

"You never run out of ways to get me into bed." He whispered gently, walking to the foot of the bed and bolting the door shut. He lifted up first one foot, then the other and kissed the soles of each, taking each toe into his mouth and sucking until I purred.

"Now," he whispered, kissing and caressing up each leg, "where else would you like this tongue?"

I leaned back and moaned, spreading my legs and nodding as I felt his hands begin to undress me. He kissed my neck and stroked my hair.

"You're my world, you know." I whispered as he began to pull my dress off. He stopped. Took my face in his hands and kissed me fully, with all the grace and innocence of our first, timid kiss. I understood. But I wanted him to give me more, to tell me I was his world too. I wanted to know he loved me the way I loved him.

But he didn't say it; he just kissed me. But this time that just wasn't enough. So I pulled my dress back down and got out of bed.

"I need more than that Tom- I'm a girl and I have feelings. I'm not your whore or anyone else's."

I saw his mouth open in suprise but I ignored him and ran away to hide behind the safety of my bolted door and single bed.

THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN TO MY INCREDIBLE READERS AND KITTYGIRL320 FOR ALL HER HELP-DON'T FORGET TO CHECK OUR HER STORIES TOO :P X


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for the patient wait, beloved readers! 3 Thank you especially to Kittygirl230 and WinnifredArtemis to helping me and nudging me along. Love ya! A little foul language in this one...**

I didn't see Alice at breakfast the next morning and my master seemed gruffer and more reticient than usual. As we sat, munching our breakfast in uncomfortable silence, I was suprised that it was my master who first brought up the topic of Alice.

"You haven't seen the girl this morning, have you, lad?" He asked me, almost nervously.

I shook my head sadly. "Not since last night."

"Well, no point dwelling on it, lad." Said my master, with far too much cheer for my liking but I bit back my annoyance. "Maybe the girl's realised she doesn't belong here and she's gone for good- a girl like that has no place in your life, lad, you know that."

Frustrated, I decided that the best thing to do to cool my head was to take a walk. "I'm going down to the village to get provisions," I grumbled, stomping to the front door and snatching the snack off the hook. I slammed the door after me to show my annoyance and stormed down to the village.

On my way into the heart of the village, filled with concern for Alice and angry for no particular reason, everything seemed to set me further on edge. Outside the butcher's there was a group of lads, a little older than me, leaning against the shop front sniggering at some private joke.

"Y'alright Tommy boy?" One of them called out at my approach, causing the others to whoop with laughter. I tried to push past them but one of them held out his arm arrogantly, preventing me from entering the shop. "Your balls not dropped off yet then?" he asked, smirking.

"Either you can let me past or we can make something out of it." I growled, much too wrapped up in my thoughts to care if I had to punch my way through the morning.

"Suprised you'd want to go in there, Tommy boy." Another of the boys chipped in, yet another irritating smirk plastered across his face. "Besides, it's closed. Big Tommy's busy in the back; got a new helper, he has, and she's helping him skin his sausage." He winked at me and by now I was beginning to get really riled up.

"Look, are you going to let me past or not?" I demanded, giving the boys one final chance.

Just then the butcher's door was opened and Alice stepped out followed by big Tommy Filch.

"Alice!" I exclaimed, both hurt and annoyed.

"See you later, Alice." Tommy Filch drawled as Alice, her head bowed, pushed silently past the boys. I caught her arm as she walked away and led her a little way from the boys so we could talk privately. She took my hand almost absent-mindedly and still hadn't looked me in the eye although I was still shaking with anger.

"Alice? Where have you been? I was worried" I whispered, my voice shaking as I tried to reign in my anger.

"You can keep the nun, Tommy boy!" Tommy Filch called after us, causing the lads to give another round of ugly laughter. "Waste of a good pair of tits that sister Alice."

"Oh fuck off!" Alice suddenly shouted, spinning round to confront them. "Just fuck right off, Tommy Filch! You ain't big and you ain't clever- and your cock ain't much bigger than a rat's tail neither!"

While Tommy Filch blushed a vivid purple the other lads whooped with laughter.

Barely able to contain my anger I turned away from Alice and began trudging up the hill, forgetting entirely about the provisions and everything else but the rage deep within me. I was angry with everyone; Tommy Filch and his gang, my master, myself and even Alice. The frustration of not knowing what had come between me and Alice and what I'd done to upset her last night.

"Tom! Tom, wait!" Alice cried, running after me. I paid her no attention and continued climbing at the same speed, leaving her to struggle to catch me up.

"Tom, please! It's not my fault, I didn't mean to." Her plea of innocence caused a flair of annoyance inside me, I didn't like to feel like she was taking me for a fool or lying to me. I stopped and turned to face her.

"What, so it's not your fault that you left in the middle of the night without a word to anyone? It's not your fault you emerge the next morning from a shop alone with Tommy Filch?" I demanded, hearing the anger in my voice and hating myself for it. I, all of all people, knew what Alice had been through and never wanted her to feel afraid or pushed into a corner.

"I'm sorry, Tom. I just... I just needed a little breathing space. But I didn't go near Tommy Filch, I swear. I just stayed with the butcher and his wife. She found me curled up from the wind and rain in the shop doorway last night and she brought me inside and let me sleep in their spare room. To thank them I made breakfast and offered to mind their shop this morning until the shop boys arrive so that they could have a day off."

"So what was all that talk about Tommy Filch's cock and your well... y'know..."

"Tits?" She grinned mischeviously.

"It's not funny Alice!" I cried indignantly. "Where did all that come from?"

"Tommy Filch came in this morning to open up the shop but he caught me offguard and pinned me against the wall behind the counter. Tried to kiss me, he did, grabbing my neck and shoving his face against mine but it was like being kissed by a dog- all tongue and bad breath." She sniggered like the mischevious village girl she once was and made me almost forget all my anger.

"So what happened Alice?" I asked her gently, taking both her hands in mine. "Did he hurt you?"

"No, Tom, just leered at me and cracked a few jokes until I managed to push past him and get past. We were only in there for about fifteen minutes."

"Okay, Alice," I whispered, taking her into my arms. "I'm sorry I shouted at you."

"I'm sorry I let Old Gregory wind me up Tom, shouldn't have just left like that." She mumbled against my chest, her arms around my neck. "I won't ever leave you, you know that, don't you?" She asked, pulling her head back to look me in the eye.

"Alice I...I..." I stammered, unable to find the words.

"It's alright Tom." She whispered gently, "leave it for when it's ready." So saying, she leaned in and kissed me.

We stood there in absolute bliss, kissing on the hillside and I knew as I looked at her in that moment I knew that her beauty would never fade before my eyes or eyes loose their sparkle. I didn't care that she had moods or that she was proud and arrogant. She was perfect and she was my world. Today and every day until I died.

**Thanks Guys! :D x**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello, beloved readers! :) This is my section from a collaboration piece with WinnifredArtemis but we both agreed how appropriate it was for "All Alone in a Dusty Room" :) Sooo a Halloween special for you all! :) Treat or treat ;) x**

It was the time of year when the leaves had turned golden and fallen off the trees and the nights had drawn in closer and the nights turned colder.

This evening was the occassion often known as All Hallows Eve or Halloween and there was no one I'd rather have spent it with than Alice. We were sat together by the fire, Alice writing in her little book, and me admiring the way the fire illuminated her ivory skin and thick black eyelashes. Her cheekbones appeared higher and sharper than usual and her lips were made voluptuous by the shadows.

Just then her eyes flicked upwards to look at me from under her eyelashes almost sternly.

"Call that working, Tom?" She whispered, a hint of her white teeth behind her crimson lips. "Your master's getting a little slack with you, Thomas Ward." She continued, raising her chin haughtily, her full lips folding into a smirk. "It's time you had a proper lesson."

"Lad!" My master's voice punched through our heavy atmosphere of excitement and enticing danger. "Library, bring your notebook!"

Alice heaved an irritible sigh and pulled away from me, scowling. "Always in the way" she muttered.

"I'm sorry, Alice... I should probably go." I spoke normally but was aware of my nervous hand movements. We gave each other an apologetic half-smile and then I was forced to leave Alice's soft, warm presence for my master's gnarled, cold one.

By the time my master released me it was beginning to get late and the sky was as black as ink with just a sprinkling of stars to complement the full moon.

I returned to the kitchen but Alice wasn't there. I followed my instincts and found her outside in the western garden, sat on the bench overlooking the fells. As I drew closer Alice turned around to smile at me and I went and took my place on the bench beside her.

"How much did Old Gregory teach you about Halloween, Tom? About the witches' Halloween?" She asked me, smiling as though this was all some delicious game. I played along.

"About the Pendle Halloween?"

"Yes."

"He taught me that it's the most important witches' sabbath as they believe that one coven, on Halloween night, can contact the Fiend and ask him to grant the coven one wish."

"That much is true" Alice agreed quietly, looking at me sideways from under her eyelashes in a way that was incredibly attractive. "But..." here she put her hands on my knees and turned to face me, walking her hands up my legs as she straddled my lap. "Exactly how much did he teach you about the secret rituals?" She whispered in my ear, her very words tickling my sensitive lobe.

"Alice!" I whispered, torn between resistance and surrendering to pleasure. She giggled and pressed herself against me, some desperate hunger becoming apparent, and I chuckled at having the upper hand. We tumbled from the bench to land on the soft grass, Alice instantly rolling back on top of me and straddling my lap.

I carressed her arms and she leaned down to nuzzle my cheek. I kissed her neck until she was leaning against my chest, her moans causing tiny vibrations against my exposed throat. As I kissed her, her deft hands worked to unbutton and liberate me of my shirt, completely without my noticing at the time.

"Touch me, Tom" she whispered, tracing her finger along the waistband of my breeches.

Teasing her, I slowly untied the string from about her waist. She raised her arms, smiling innocently at me, and I eased her dress off, over her loincloth and binding and over her head.

"Tom!" She whimpered more urgently, grasping my left hand in a bone-crushing grip.

I chuckled again as she wriggled out of her loincloth and kicked it off along with her pointy shoes. I kissed her along the top of her breasts while unlacing her binding from the back.

Alice, grown hot with impatience, laid my hand against her most sacred area. I began to stroke gently and she relaxed against me, spreading her legs. Her flower was moist, sticky, and warm- like the dewfall on a spring blossom. I gently inserted my index finger a little way inside her, finding her hard little nub with ease. As I circled and stroked she bit into my neck and chest, grasping my hair. Before long she started to tremble and grasped me tightly, I could feel her flower contracting and pulsating as she cried out in pleasure. I felt her release but knew from experience it increased her pleasure to keep my finger busy inside of her.

She moaned loudly, her body going limp as I removed my finger, now thickly coated in her dews. I began teasing her opening again with the same finger and I heard her whimper.

"Tom!" After a few moments of trembling on my chest while I stroked and kissed her hair she raised her head to look at me. She wriggled up to my face and started to kiss me, shallow and innocent at first but slowly her tongue explored deeper and he kiss more lustful.

I felt her hands caressing my lower stomach, edging around the waistband of my breeches. I felt her fingers sketch over my straining erection as she began to unlace and undress me. I gasped and thrust myself forward as I felt the cool air blow over my tingling genitals.

Alice giggled and I felt her fingers walk over the pubic hair from my stomach to my loins. She carressed my manhood gently, making me groan with impatience. Alice drew back from the kiss and began making little nips along my neck and jawline.

She folded her fingers around me and began rubbing my shaft, creating friction far more delicious that I myself could ever hope to replicate. Her tongue lapped against my jugular vein and the growing stubble on my cheeks.

I felt myself drawing closer to release far faster than ever before, feeling Alice's moist centre rubbing gently against my thigh and feeling her clever tongue tease the skin of my throat.

The blood of my member was close to boiling. I heard the way I groaned, almost pathetically, yet made no attempt to silence myself, knowing how erotic Alice found the noises.

I panted in time with Alice's strokes, feeling my loins tighten and trickles of release begin to run. I felt her other hand carress beneath my foreskin.

"Alice!" Came my strangled cry as my loins released the pressure within, along with an eruption of pleasure. I groaned loudly, Alice descending to kiss me fully as I slowly came back to reality. Or heaven. I couldn't at the moment tell which was which.

"Did you like that, Tom?" She whispered as I grasped her to my chest.

"My perfect Alice... it was perfect just like you." I whispered back, kissing her on the nose. "Absolute bliss." I cuddled her into me and tried my best to make her more comfortable.

She drew back from me and smirked again.

"I can make it even better." She whispered temptingly, yet I found it impossible to believe her. I couldn't begin to imagine anything feeling better.

Alice answered my silence by straddling my lap but I quickly bucked away.

"No, Alice!" I cried. She smirked, unable to take my objection seriously, and she began trailing seductive kisses down my stomach. I lifted her chin and shifted away.

"Alice...no." I leaned in and kissed her tenderly. "I want to... heaven and earth, I want to, but you know I couldn't, Alice. I've always wanted to keep the wedding night sacred and I can't let my lust destroy that for either you or me."

"You think we'll get married, Tom?" She asked, her smile so radiant it seemed to put the very stars to shame.

I hadn't really thought about the future in those terms before and was in no hurry to do so now, we were both young and blisfully happy in each other's company. Alice was always ordering me not to spoil our perfect peace with worry.

I gently touched her flower, caressing her as lightly as I could.

"Would you like a little more?" I asked gently.

"Mmn, no, Tom." She snuggled into me. "I just want to be held by you."

"It's going to get cold." I whispered, carressing her goose-pimpled arms. "You're shivering already."

"Take me to bed then, Tom." She smiled at me pleasantly. I pulled my breeches on, throwing the rest of our clothes over my shoulder and taking Alice up into my arms the way a bridegroom carries his bride over the threshold.

We crept eagerly through the dark, warm halls of my master's house; thankfully filled with the sounds of his snoring.

I eased Alice down gently onto the bed and she wriggled under the covers as I hung our clothes over the back of our chairs.

"Coming to bed, Tom?" She held the covers open invitingly for me. I smiled indulgently, crawling under the covers with her. She turned her back towards me and curved her spine to fit my body exactly. I felt the tempting curve of her bottom but, already sated for the night, I was content to merely hold her in my arms and keep her warm and protected whilst she slept.


	12. Chapter 12

**A sliver of a starter before the main course you've all been waiting for**

Alice and I had a difficult few weeks, my master kept talking about going off to Pendle and it was making Alice uneasy. When we lay together in bed at night we'd lie on our sides with her back towards me so she could feel safer. I'd hear her snuffling some nights and I'd kiss her head and stroke her hair until she stopped crying and fell asleep.

She'd started drinking a poultice she'd made to help cure her melancholy and it seemed to be working although she still seemed a little withdrawn. She hadn't wanted me with her usual hunger and passion but I hadn't wanted to say anything. It would sound terrible and, besides, I knew it was the result of her inner turmoil rather than a diminished attraction. Or, I hoped so at least.

"Tell me what you're thinkng, Alice." I whispered.

She was silent for a few moments and I thought perhaps she was pretending to be asleep to avoid answering me.

"Your window looks like mine, Tom." She answered eventually.

"Upstairs?" I asked, a little confused.

"At my parent's house when I was a little girl. My bed faced the window like this too and you could only see through the top two panes. I used to lie in bed and look at the moon until I fell asleep with the moon watching over me... Felt safe then, I did, but I couldn't sleep if the moon wasn't out."

I held her closer. "You can sleep safely now, Alice."

A lot happened in Pendle and it really brought us closer together. It also brought an end to Alice's melancholy as well as completely refreshing our relationship and stregnthening our trust. But that wasn't why I'd remember Pendle forever. It was just after Pendle I gave my virginity to Alice...

**But more of that next time ;) x**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sooo my patient friends, here it is**

**_After the climactic events of Pendle and the raising of the Fiend, Tom and Alice share a personal moment at Brewer's Farm_**

Tom POV

I still had my arm tucked around Alice as she finished and looked up at me with tears glistening in her eyes.

"So that's it, then, Tom" she choked out. "That's all I have to tell you… Do you hate me?"

I stared at her, a little shocked, before coming back to life. "No, Alice, of course I don't hate you! I never could! Why would you think that?" I exclaimed, moving to sit beside her on the bed with my arm still around her shoulders.

"Because of all I've been and done, Tom. You would never have done any of that- I'm a bad girl, Tom. Bad inside. Don't deserve you, I don't" she mumbled, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her borrowed nightgown. I pulled her arm away and pulled her into my chest for a hug. She rested her head against my shoulder and I just held her like that for a long time, neither of us wanting to move. Eventually Alice pulled back, her eyes wide once more.

"Oh, Tom, you do care about me, don't you?" She whispered beseechingly.

"Yes, of course." I told her soothingly, one hand rubbing circles into her back as I tried to pull her back into my embrace and calm her.

"And… and you do care_ for_ me don't you? I mean… you would never hurt me or…"

"Of _cours_e I care for you, Alice, and would never let you get hurt… I'm sorry for what you've been through." I added lamely, but it was the best I could do.

"You don't understand" Alice grumbled, tears beginning to sparkle in her eyes. I put one finger under her chin and raised her head so I could look directly in her eyes.

"Alice, I'm in love with you. " She leaned forward to kiss me but I held her shoulder back; I wasn't finished. "I need you more than anything else in the world; I love you more than anything else in the world. I don't care what you've been through or what you've done: you're everything to me and I could not live without you?"

Alice gasped softly and touched my cheek.

"I love you too, Tom. I've loved you ever since you took me away from Bony Lizzie; my hero, you were."

"I'll be your hero forever- if you'll let me, that is." I whispered, my throat dry.

"Tom, I don't want us skirting round each other anymore. I've waited years for this moment- I don't want to die without knowing what it feels like." Alice breathed, equally shocked yet seeming determined.

I just nodded; feeling a little numb as Alice cupped both sides of my face while gazing into my eyes. I found myself plucking up the courage to lean forward and kiss her gently. Something prickled in my scalp as our lips met passionately and while my stomach bubbled I got the impression that suddenly something momentous had changed.

Alice POV

While my stomach flipped over itself repeatedly I found myself kissing Tom back, as passionately as I dared. His lips opened and closed over my own and I allowed myself to be led by Tom and his warm lips. His left hand rested on my right hip and his other hand was behind my head, gently stroking my hair.

He kept tilting our heads and I kept my right hand cupping the side of his face and my left gripping his right bicep so as to keep him close to me. He started licking my tongue and as the kisses slowly became more impassioned I was starting to feel a little light-headed from the lack of air. I could feel my nipples begin to prick at my nightgown as they hardened and took on a definite shape of their own. The miniscule friction was utterly delicious.

"It's hot in here." I gasped out as Tom gently withdrew his tongue from my mouth in order to take a few much-needed breaths. The window was already open and there wasn't much else I could do to cool myself down. I sighed softly and, before I knew what was happening, Tom was kissing my neck, trailing his tongue and leaving hot, wet marks along my skin. My nipples became utterly solid and my flower was really starting to heat up and had already begun moistening.

"Tom." I whispered softly, my neck extending backwards automatically in order to give Tom more space to work with. I decided to make a bold move and take a chance.

I gently removed Tom's left hand from my hip and instead placed it around my right breast, allowing him to cup me fully. I felt him take the weight and relaxed into his hand with a small moan. Tom began gently nipping the back of my neck with his teeth, causing me to breathe heavily and sort of melt into his arms. This seemed to give Tom the confidence he needed and he began to properly feel my breast through my nightgown. I felt him circle it with his fingers before gently massaging it by small squeezes. I closed my eyes and felt him kiss me again, even more passionately. As his tongue entered my mouth Tom's hand left my breast and his fingers trailed lazily to the tip, passing his fingers individually across the hardened nipple, visible even through my nightgown. We both moaned softly and at the friction I could no longer support my own upper body.

I fell back onto the soft cushion of Tom's left arm and I could see the tenderness in his eyes as he leaned down to kiss me. Not one part of this felt wrong or scary- it was romantic and right and natural.

"Alice," he whispered and although I usually adored it every time he said my name this time his tone irked my slightly- he sounded far too urgent for such a romantic and perfect moment. "Alice, I… I… This isn't… I should at least…" My gaze automatically flicked down to his breeches to check the situation there. I wasn't in the least frightened when I saw the defined lump that I knew to be his erection- if anything it intensified my lust and confidence that we both felt exactly the same. I felt my flower begin to run slick just at the sight of it.

I kissed him, instantly roused to something that could possibly approach anger if I wasn't so relaxed and blissful. The last thing I wanted to hear from his lips now was that he felt this was wrong or that he should go. He sensed my soft mood change.

"Alice, this is right." He whispered firmly into my ear and I fully enjoyed the ticklish sensation his breath caused the sensitive hole. "This is right and beautiful but I don't want to take something so precious from you without you thinking about it first." He told me gently as he caressed my face, merely reinforcing my determination.

"I want this to be you and I want it to be now. You're right; this is right and beautiful. This is all I want for my first time! I love you." I whispered urgently, my heart skipping a beat at the sudden realisation of what was going to happen. It wasn't dread; it was excitement. I wasn't remotely scared and was, actually, fully relaxed.

"I love you too, Alice. If you're sure, we can do this but if you want to stop at any point…" He didn't have to finish his sentence- we both knew I wouldn't want this to stop. "This is my first time too, okay? So if I do anything wrong or if… let me know, okay?" I nodded, almost panting in excitement and Tom seemed even more eager than me. "I love you, Alice."

"I love you too, Tom."

We both kneeled up quickly and, with Tom's tongue gently exploring my own again I found myself pulling off his shirt impatiently, wanting to survey my lover in all his glory.

Once his shirt was off he blushed a little and allowed me to sag back into the cushion of his arms. He seemed more than happy to lead me and for this I was secretly glad. I didn't feel I wanted to be the dominant one in this- I was happy to simply feel and learn for my first time.

I began to run my fingers over the muscles of his arms and chest, full of wonder. How long had I wanted to gently squeeze his arms experimentally to test the hardness? I caressed his face, also, and left kisses all over his face and neck. He chuckled at my excitement and his hand went to take my breast again, the throbbing in my flower now a second heartbeat. I arched my back to show my approval.

Tom POV

As Alice's breast pressed into my hand through the nightgown I realised that I would be unable to contain my excitement and passion for much longer. I let out a low groan and shifted Alice's weight so she was supported by her head leaning on my shoulder meaning both my hands were free to explore her breasts- although not as free as I would have liked.

Suddenly her nightdress was no longer a pretty white bodice but a deeply rude and unwelcome obstruction. Keeping my left hand gently cupping her right breast I moved my right hand over the top of her left breast, causing her to whimper and become even limper against me, and down towards the centre where her lacing was.

As I slowly undid the bow I studied Alice's face carefully for a reaction- desperate to not push her too far too quickly and thus jeopardise what we had. Alice's face showed only bliss, love and tenderness and I found myself kissing her again, this time without entry.

Alice gripped my left bicep hard in her right hand, squeezing gently, and moved her other hand behind my head to gently ruffle my hair. I was surprised to find how much I liked that and, without fully realising what I was doing, unlaced Alice's bodice.

In order to make up for my senseless unlacing I made the removal of her bodice slow and deliberate, allowing us both to savour the moment.

Alice POV

Tom gently pulled the fabric off my right shoulder first and I moved my hand from his bicep so as to keep my arm hooked around his neck for support. Tom gently caressed the newly exposed skin of my collar bone and the smooth area just above the start of my breast. I moaned softly as he continued to kiss the neck and skin, his left hand sliding across to my opposite shoulder.

He kissed me softly and gently turned me around so that my back was facing him. As he eased the fabric off my left shoulder the bodice fell to just above my hips. I put one hand on my belly button to hold the fabric in place- I wasn't prepared to reveal all just yet.

Tom gently swept my hair off my back and onto my left shoulder before caressing and kissing the full length of my spine. Nothing could have intensified my lust more; especially as he gently pulled the fabric down at the back so as to kiss just above my bottom. His deft hands then began a most tender massage of my shoulders and neck and I truly believed that there was no level of bliss higher than this.

He moaned my name quietly and as I moaned his in response my head sagged backwards onto his chest and I could feel his warm breath on my shoulder. Holding my bodice at hip-height at the front I turned back around to face him. His sparkling green eyes held my gaze only for a second before a tiny, intriguing kiss and his gaze dropping to my breasts. I saw his eyes widen slightly and we both coloured a little. My breasts may not have been especially large but they were full and feminine, the nipples pert and unashamed. He gently cupped both breasts and my body went limp again as I breathed his name. The way he looked at me then I could have drunk the love flowing from his eyes and I made sure I gave him a look to make him feel the same way.

His mouth dropped to gently kiss both nipples and the moisture from his mouth accompanied by the expelled air from his nostrils gave me a wonderful feeling that lasted only for a second or two. My flower yearned for him so desperately that my juices were, at this point, beginning to leak out onto my inner thighs.

Tom's mouth moved to gently suck the skin of my right breast while one of his hands gently explored my left nipple, passing his fingers over it and ever-so-gently squeezing. He moved his tongue down my breast a little, leaving a line of warm moisture behind him, and began to suck my right nipple gently. At that I let out a cry so loud it was almost a scream and I felt my flower squeeze. I felt him smirk and he began to suck me harder, his teeth nipping me ever so slightly. I could hardly breathe but he kept intensifying his sucking, now lapping at me as well and rubbing his thumb roughly- yet incredibly- over my other nipple. My flower began to squeeze more rapidly and harder- I was being pleasured by this as well as aroused. Without warning he suddenly pulled away from me, leaving me gasping and my juices stained through my gown. He gave me a devilish smirk and then a tender kiss and I tried to form some sort of protest as his abrupt halt.

"We have to keep you wanting it, love. Otherwise our love making won't work." He told me softly. "I'm so sorry- I didn't mean to tease you." I shook my head to show I wasn't angry as I still couldn't breathe to form words.

My fingers passed gently over his chest and arms and he gave a low groan, apparently enjoying himself as much as I was. In a surge of madness and boldness I decided just to double-check this.

Tom POV

Alice's hand trailed seductively down my stomach, past the start of my breeches and dangerously downwards. As her soft, gentle hand reached me I could not fight the loud moan as she cupped me, gently squeezing. I pulled her hand away, quickly but gently- I was too close to climax to be toyed with. Alice gave a small moan of disappointment but quickly perked up as my fingers trailed down to her bottom. She moaned my name softly.

"I love you." I whispered into her ear as I kissed her shoulder and she exhaled softly. I couldn't contain myself much longer- the moment would have to come soon.

Caressing Alice's face with my right hand I began to slowly and carefully lower Alice down onto the bed. She held my face in both hands and whispered my name softly. I leaned forward and kissed her passionately as she neared the mattress, allowing our tongues yet another opportunity to explore one another.

Just before Alice was fully lowered onto the mattress my hands moved down to her breasts and I cupped and squeezed them softly, running my thumbs roughly over the hardened nipples, the wet stain on the front of her gown deepening visibly. Alice gave the softest of contented sighs and I knew in that moment that she was fully relaxed and ready.

She lay limply on the sheets, her body completely pliant, and yet I had never seen her so passionate. Her gorgeous brown eyes sparkled in the invading moonlight with a firm conviction. She wanted and was ready for this.

I kissed her fully, using my tongue and lips to tell her of the decision I had reached and confirm it was the right one. Alice's eager lips conveyed to me that she was ready and that I may proceed and lead her. I hooked my right arm under her hips so that it supported her lower back and also brought her into a sort of embrace. I was desperate to communicate to her that I wouldn't leave her or let her get hurt. I wanted her to be totally confident and assured that this was the right thing for her to do.

"If you need to stop, now's the time to do it…" I warned her, using my left hand to massage her right ear. She moaned softly.

"Tom, I love you... I'm ready." She spoke as though in a daze and I relished the thought that in the next few seconds I, too, could completely let myself go and enjoy the moment. I could feel myself teetering on the edge on unearthly bliss however held myself back, not wanting to lose my concentration and risk Alice's enjoyment. I was absolutely certain that Alice was an utterly pure virgin and I knew from my dad as well as my brother Jack that girls didn't always enjoy love making their first time because it could be painful. Apparently the first entry could even draw blood and elicit a scream. I didn't want this for Alice and would take any road necessary to avoid it- she definitely deserved the most loving and blissful time I could give her.

"I love you too, Alice."

I found myself moving down her body, kissing her nipples and licking down her sternum all the way to her belly button. I kissed the area just below her belly button and she gave a sort of satisfied hiss, arching her back slightly. My left hand fully appreciated the elegantly narrow yet temptingly full spreading of Alice's hips until it approached her skirt.

Alice POV

I was sweating at this point, as I imagine Tom was, and was beginning to become impatient with lust. My skirt was no longer something to be held in place in order to preserve my modesty and keep a small aura of mystery. It was a hideous, deeply offending garment to be cast off and shed as quickly as possible. I felt Tom's hand ghost nervously over the top of my skirt before pushing it off my hips; pulling it down over my legs and feet and throwing it smugly onto the floor.

Without my consent my body squirmed with pleasure at the thought I was again naked in front of Tom. I was not at all embarrassed at my new vulnerability and even the parts of my body I'm usually self-conscious about, namely my thighs and stomach, felt deeply attractive. I couldn't even bring myself to feel concerned about my juices which I knew were visible on my inner thighs and flower or my hardened nipples. I just wanted Tom to see me naked and relish in me. After all, what did I have to be embarrassed about? Like Tom had said, this was right and beautiful and natural.

Tom gasped softly at the revealing of my flower and he drew his fingers lightly as a feather over the opening. It felt like he'd struck me with a bolt of lightning pleasure and I felt my body give a tiny jump and, to my horror, my legs spreading without my consent as though I were some wanton slut behind the stables.

His head drew downwards and he literally kissed the soles of my feet before working his way back up my body kissing my shins, calves, back of my knees and thighs. When he arrived back at my flower he paused for a moment and I moaned at his tempting breath.

"Alice, my love." He whispered softly, kissing my flower tenderly. My legs spread even further and, as though he had been waiting for that cue, his hand went to his breeches crotch.

His hands worked quickly and deftly to undo his lacing and he pulled his breeches down without ceremony. I felt a particularly hard throb in my flower that quickly developed into a short series at the sight of Tom once again naked in front of me. I could barely find the strength to lift his left wrist from his side in order to check his forearm for my mark. I couldn't bear it if this wasn't Tom after all but some cruel trick. Fortunately my instincts proved correct and this was the real Tom.

I then moved that hand to Tom's newly exposed groin where I tried to explore but Tom quickly removed my hand. Although I had seen Tom's genitals many times before this felt so completely new.

"I'm sorry, my love. I know you want to but I'm too close and if I let you do that now I'll be spent."

My juices were flowing quite generously down between the backs of my thighs. I squirmed as the disappointingly short series of hard throbs stopped and Tom smiled down at me, the picture of tenderness.

"You really want me." He whispered with a devilish smile. His left hand moved down and his fingers gently slid the full length of my flower's centre. I moaned softly and I felt what little energy and tension I had managed to summon back into my body at Tom's revealing flee me once again.

His middle finger found the hardened, throbbing heart of my flower and rubbed it in an extremely gentle up and down motion. I cried out in frustration and found my spread legs bending at the knees to afford Tom even greater access. Tom withdrew his middle finger for a moment and instead used his index finger to circle the throbbing heart until the blood was pounding in my ears and my sight was warped. I could barely hear him breathing my name in my ear as blissfully as if he was the one being pleasured or me moaning his back to him.

We were both so hot and passionate already, lying here with Tom on top of me, we already felt like one body even though Tom had not even begun to enter me. We both sensed at the same time when Tom should withdraw his finger in order to maintain my arousal and he kissed me gently. I knew that my eyes would be as full of love as his were.

"I just want to tell you, Alice, that I love you more than anything ever. The sun, the moon and the stars pale into insignificance next to you. Nothing could ever replace your or diminish you in my eyes." He whispered softly as he gently rubbed my temples, his manhood hard against my left thigh. My heart swelled further still.

Tom POV

I gently ran my hands down her body as I kissed her one last time before… She whispered my name softly.

"I love you too, Tom. I've never felt about anything or anyone the way I feel about you. You are my entire world and the most important person in everything I do. I won't ever leave you or hurt you, Tom. I love you too much." She whispered. I kissed her passionately, using my tongue and lips to tell her I felt exactly the same.

I made sure she felt my erection slide along her thigh towards her flower so as it wouldn't come as a shock to her when I entered.

I straightened my body up against her and made sure she was comfortable. Her head was resting on the pillow, my lips preparing to meet hers, while she was kept in a sort of embrace by my right arm which I replaced into the curve of her lower back. I kept my thumb moving up and down in a soothing motion while my other hand caressed the outer edges of her flower, running my fingers sensually through her curly white pubic hair. It was luxuriously thick and deliciously moist with her sex juices. Alice's hands were spread against my back to hold me to her and I could feel just how small and delicate those hands were.

I kissed her forehead just below the hairline and brought the hand that had been caressing her flower to her face, both thumbs now moving soothingly against her skin. As I moved my hand I brought my lips down to her mouth and prepared myself for entry. I didn't have time to shout my love for her but we both said it with our kiss.

I started to insert myself. Alice moaned in ecstasy through my lips as my first two inches entered her. This encouraged me greatly. I had been determined from the start that I would do this all in one, seamless movement without any pauses that could prolong Alice's pain. I was fairly slow- inserting only a half inch at a time- but I never paused.

As I came to about my middle Alice's moans turned to breathless sighs, as did my own. I was teetering on the edge of utter oblivion in my pleasure but I needed to hold back just a few more seconds until I was completely inserted and I knew Alice was alright.

An inch previously I had encountered a sort of tight V-shaped bottleneck. I didn't stop or pause, determined to make this as painless as possible. I knew that my tip at least could fit in. Alice moaned loudly as another small measure of me entered her and I heard myself make a low groan. I didn't allow worry or concern to cloud my judgment- I was patient, Alice was relaxed; there was no cause for panic.

I told myself with every half inch inserted into the bottleneck that the next little bit would fit in easily although in reality I knew that it was simply Alice's relaxation allowing the bottleneck to expand enough to accommodate me. As though oblivious to the allegedly agonizing experience in her flower Alice was moaning into my mouth, our bodies still tightly latched onto each other. I was almost entirely inserted into Alice with a large portion of me neatly inserted into what was once a seemingly impossibly tight bottleneck. I was sorely tempted at this point to abandon my slow, seamless entry and quickly thrust the rest of myself in but I remembered to keep my calm. After my last inch and a half made entry into Alice we both moaned loudly. I had reached the very back of the tight bottleneck and I had never felt bliss so wonderful.

Now came the moment when I could finally let go and surrender myself to the pleasure of the moment. I allowed myself to slip gladly over the edge I had been teetering on and was quickly overwhelmed. Everything was so warm, so loving, so perfect.

I felt Alice's flower begin to throb around me and she squirmed in pleasure. I groaned loudly at the joy I had caused her and gave her a small thrust in promise of what was to come.

Alice POV

I could not believe the bliss I experienced as Tom entered me. I had been completely relaxed beforehand because I expected no pain whatsoever, knowing that Tom was far too gentle and my flower far too needy for there to be any pain. The loss of my virginity was as smooth as gentle waves lapping against the shore.

I felt myself throb around him and Tom lifted his hips to give me a little more bliss. An initial small thrust. It was heaven.

Our tongues danced over each other again and suddenly we could stand it no longer. We could not lie here like this another second without making love to each other.

Tom POV

Desperate for the pleasure we had both surrendered ourselves and our innocence to we began to rock gently as waves against a rowing boat in calm waters under the moonlight.

The pleasure of my member was unbelievable and I found myself groaning loudly as Alice's moans. Our chests rose and fell rapidly in sync with each other and the teasing sensation of her hardened nipples being forced against my chest one second and withdrawn the next caused me to rock her with even more passion.

I could feel myself slip a little deeper inside of her and then pull back a little as I rocked; both of us desperate for the moment when I would move deeper again. I was forced to release Alice from the kiss for a moment in order to catch my breath, although I did not stop gently rocking us. As I did so our eyes opened slowly and I saw, as we gazed into each other's eyes, how huge Alice's pupils had become and how very innocent she still looked.

My left hand was still stroking her face and I longed to tell her how much love I felt for her in that moment but I couldn't find any words. They had all left me- I knew the word Alice and I knew the word Tom but in that instance I honestly could not have told you what they meant. If I had to guess I would've guessed they meant something to do with the incredible, almost impossible, pleasure I was feeling.

Alice stared unblinkingly into my eyes, her lips parted as she took in deep breaths. Without fully realising what I was doing I closed my eyes, leaned in and kissed her again, my tongue entering her mouth. She spread her legs a little further and I knew that, like me, she was hungry for more. Suddenly I found my words.

"I love you, Alice." I told her softly, breaking our kiss only for a moment. Alice pulled away as soon as I had attached myself again.

"I love you too, Tom." She whispered as she received my kiss again, her breathing speeding up nicely.

Alice POV

Tom held me tighter in his arms and truly I had never felt so warm or so loved. As Tom continued to rock us I found my hips joining in his rhythm, increasing the pleasure. Tom's hands still held me in a sort of embrace while stroking my hair and face and despite being completely relaxed my body began to jolt. I could feel my flower tensing and throbbing, bringing even more pleasure yet my body started to spasm like it was pain. I was very grateful for Tom's weight on top of me that was surely the only thing preventing me from bucking away from the pleasure I so desperately wanted.

Through my scrambled thoughts I realised that it was this pleasure causing my body to behave in such a way. It was hot and passionate and almost unbearable. It was only then I realised how loudly I had been moaning into Tom's mouth; Tom constantly returning hot, low groans in approval.

Tom's thrusts suddenly came much harder and faster, _exactly_ what we both needed, and I don't recall breathing. I could feel my flower clench tightly around his manhood and I knew that something indescribably amazing was going to happen to this pleasure.

My legs squirmed and trembled but although some tiny part of me still wanted to buck away from the intensity the rest of me was utterly fixated on our love making reaching its climax. I understood at this point why it was called love making. I had never felt such intense love towards another person in my life and I could feel Tom's love for me radiating back.

Tom's manhood trembled inside me and I could feel his balls, pressed against my inner thighs, tighten. I wondered briefly if I were about to fall pregnant but quickly pushed the thought from my mind, too wrapped up in my pleasure to care much either way.

Tom broke our passionate kiss, our dance of tongues, and I could feel the hot moisture of his mouth against my cheek. Keeping my eyes closed I heard him whisper my name in my ear- never had anything felt or sounded so erotic.

"Tom!" I cried out, far louder than I had intended but unable to hold it back.

"I love you Alice… I lo-…I l…" His words disintegrated into deep, hot groans and I cried out in pleasure at the sound of them. Everything was so hot and sexy and perfect. Everything about this moment gave me more pleasure.

"I love you too, T… _Oh!_" I almost shouted- I could feel the pleasure start to reach climax. I was dimly aware of my moans and cries, answered by Tom, as the throbbing centre of heat deep within my flower decided it was not able to take any more. My flower squeezed tightly just as I felt Tom's manhood swell. And then… I screamed.

I felt him squirt himself powerfully inside me and nothing had ever felt better as I squeezed Tom one final time before my flower started to pulse of its own accord. I shivered and collapsed against him. Tom withdrew from me and we just lay there like that all night.


	14. Christmas Special part One

**Thank you to my wonderful readership! As my gift to you today I proudly present "Naughty or Nice" part one, the format always conveying the passionate, snatched moments the Tom/Alice relationship is legendary for! **

Tom

It was my first Christmas away from my family and part of me missed them atnd the swapping of jokes and stories over a large bronzed turkey. Jack had sent me a sarcastic letter inviting me to join them if I wasn't too preoccupied with more important things and I had written back to decline; I knew the atmosphere wouldn't be the same since my becoming a spook's apprentice. Instead I planned to spend Christmas with Alice, Mr Gregory and the boggart and had bought and wrapped gifts for each accordingly before retiring to bed on Christmas eve.

In truth, I was feeling a little agitated and struggled to fnd sleep. Earlier in the evening Alice had kissed me fiercely on the stairs and slipped her hand into my breeches, groping my manhood until I hardened and moaned, and I had expected a visit later. Yet just before midnight, feeling disappointed and a little frustrated, with still no sign of Alice even in her room I was forced to abandon hope.

After tossing and turning so much I almost fell out of bed I had eventually decided to take matters into my own hands and pleasure myself. No sooner had I started than I felt the weight of Alice by my feet and heard her giggle.

"Who's been a bad boy then?" She asked coyly as I opened my eyes and saw her. She looked like a Venus, draped at the foot of my bed in just a single layer of opaque red taffetta covering her creamy skin. Seeing my astonished glance Alice gave me a seductive smile and began crawling slowly up the bed towards me, her garment allowing me an excellent view of her cleavage and yet denying me the sight of her nipples.

"I've got a present for you Tom." She whispered next to my ear. "But first you have to promise me something," she toyed with the straps holding her garment on her shoulders.

"Anything." Came my choked reply.

**Part Two arriving in time for Boxing day! Expect cute sexiness... x**


	15. Christmas Special part Two

**You're all so patient! You need to thank kittygirl320 for reminding this scatterbrain she has to get stuff done! X**

"There's only one rule, Tom Ward: don't die. Promise me- promise me you won't die; you can't leave me alone in this world." She whispered urgently, leaving me a little annoyed; I loved Alice but she was complicated and her habit of switching between seductive and emotional was beginning to wear me down.

She must have sensed my reluctance to answer because she abruptly pulled back and glared at me.

"I'm sorry, Alice. I just... I like to know where I am and what I'm meant to be doing. You can't just keep switching between all sexy and wild to insecure and emotional without warning!" As soon as the words were out of my mouth I felt incredibly guilty and pulled Alice into my arms, kissing and carressing desperately as though that could reverse the harm I'd caused.

Without speaking or even looking me in the eye she untangled herself from my arms and stood up.

"That's the problem with you, Thomas Ward." She mumbled, tears threatening to fall as she kept her eyes fixed on the ground. "You don't want all of me, not me as I really am. You just want the bits of me that suit you, the perfect little sweetheart and none of the abuse, the darker bits. You're nothing but a judgemental little prick!"

"Oh no you don't, Alice Deane!" I cried, also springing to my feet. "Don't you dare say I don't love you and I don't want all of you because I've never loved or wanted anything more!"

She was looking me in the eye now, tears falling down her cheeks but she looked almost afraid, backed against the wall and all drawn in on herself.

"Please, just let me go home," she whispered. Instantly, my anger faded away and I crossed the room in two strides to take Alice into my arms.

"Shhh, shhh it's okay, my love, I have you." I whispered as I kissed her hair. "We just got a little upset is all, I'm sorry if I was cruel to you, or rude, or anything else. I never meant to upset you-"

"Shh, Tom. Have my own reasons, I do, and maybe one say you'll know them. For now just kiss me, kiss me and make love to me just like you did on that first night."

And I do.


	16. Chapter 14

**Thank you for your amazing patience! :D** x

* * *

Another morning in paradise.

The pale yellow sunlight shone gently into the room, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the morning light. It seemed like a crisp and chilly morning but it was warm and cosy between the sheets and I was happy and comfortable. Bird chirping in the trees by my window completed the idyll.

My left arm was behind my head and Alice was tucked in tightly to my side. Her fingers were still in my armpit, having fallen asleep toying with the hair and I kissed her hair and nuzzled her sleeping form. It wasn't often I woke before her and to watch her sleep was a rare treat.

I sensed her wake but didn't move, hoping she might doze off again. She sighed contentedly and cuddled closer;!kissing up the side of my chest but I sensed her becoming groggy again as the kisses became slower and weaker.

I carressed her spine gently and stroked the hair away from her face, something she acknowledged with a tiny sigh.

"I love you" she mumbled against my tricep and I chuckled; she was always so alert in the mornings unless we had been intimate the night before. I took great pride in wearying her body with our love making and knew a groggy morning meant a great success.

"Go back to sleep, my love." I whispered.

"I need to get up. Old Smeggory." She grumbled.

"No," I whispered back, my heart racing even at the thought, "we have the house to ourselves, remember? It's his birthday, he's in Preston." I stroked her hair again and felt her head sag back onto my chest.

"I wanna sleep." She mumbled, barely intelligible. "Stay here and sleep with me." She commanded, even as her eyelids drooped and her breathing became deep and even again.

She dropped off in less than a minute and I lay there just looking at her for a few moments before I decided to make myself useful.

I got myself out of bed and tucked Alice up nicely before heading down to the kitchen, still naked. Normally any cooking was strictly the boggart's territory but it hadn't rung the bell for breakfast that morning and so I could only assume it was taking the day off in honour of Mr Gregory's birthday.

Despite being a terrible and inexperienced cook I managed to fry a few eggs and rashers of bacon and make some toast. I arranged this slightly dubious breakfast on two bright yellow plates and a blue wooden tray and borrowed a few yellow tullips from my master's beds on the window sill. I then made a pot of tea and took the breakfast upstairs to Alice who was gently roused by the smell of the food.

I climbed back into bed beside her and offered her one of the plates and a cup of tea. She smiled and tucked herself under my armpit, apparently hungry enough to sample even my cooking.

"Becoming really domesticated you are, Thomas Ward." She smirked at me. "Have to get you making me breakfast in bed more often."

"I can think of other things I'd much rather do in bed with you" I replied.

"Mmm, maybe," said Alice measuredly. "But you'll have to brush my hair first." She grinned, wriggling out from under my arm and going to sit, naked, at my desk. She sat watching me in the mirror as I picked up her hairbrush and began to tenderly draw it through her glossy blackness.

She smiled as I brushed and eventually closed her eyes, humming softly to herself. Having freed her hair of tangles I set the brush back down on the desk and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Wouldn't you like to make better use of our time alone?" I asked, carressing her to try and make my words as seductive as possible.

"Tell you what Tom," said Alice, opening her eyes and smirking mischeviously at me in the mirror, "if you manage to go now and fetch me a dozen dozen flowers before sundown, I'll give you the night of your life." She winked at me, seeing in my face that I had already accepted the challenge. "We can even..." she lowered her voice "try that thing you've to try."

I smirked at her, kissed the top of her head, and rushed around the room getting dressed. I hurried out of the house and out into the fields to gather wildflowers.

I filled my arms with as many flowers as I could carry, not bothering to count them as I doubted Alice would do so. I sprinted back to the house and through the back door only to be stopped dead in my tracks by the sight that greeted me.

The kitchen was dark except for a pathway of candles and blood red rose petals strewn across the floor. These led upstairs and, scandalously, to my master's bedroom.

I didn't know if I was comfortable with this gross breach of etiquette but I opened the door nevertheless.

Dropping the flowers as I entered I observed that the room was bathed in the light of a hundred candles. Alice was stretched out langourously across my master's bed, her lithe body calling me to me: my femme fatale. Her naked body was covered in places by the same scarlet rose petals which were also scattered through her hair and across the room.

She moaned softly, stretching her arms above her head and spread her legs. I watched as her left hands travelled down her body, over her stomach, and down her inner thighs. I groaned, ripping my shirt off over my head and my breeches down. I was torn between approaching the bed and ravishing her like never before or staying where I was and watching this enticing show.

She whimpered and spread her legs, feeling back up her body but avoiding the secret area between her legs.

"Oh, Tom!" She moaned, and at that I could resist no longer. I sprinted to the bed and straddled her.

I didn't enter her but rather kissed her deeply, from her mouth down to her stomach and back again. She clung to me, her legs around my waist and her arms around my neck.

"I love you," she whispered.

"I love you too," I replied.

* * *

**And there we leave our lovers for now :) **x


	17. Chapter 15

**Ooh, aren't I being good to you? Two updates in a week! Thank you soo much to my old friends WinnifredArtemis and kittygirl320 as well as my amazing reviewers, followers and favouriters! 3 X**

**Language coming up...**

* * *

Deep.

Alice liked it deep, slow and a little rough; she liked to be beneath me; liked to grapple with me for top position but only liked to lose. She liked me to thrust in and out of her slowly and aggressively, as deep as I could. Liked her whole body to shake along with the bed every time I impaled.

Twenty minutes into our love making and Alice was slowly reaching her peak. Her right hand, which had been cupping my left buttock, had contracted and her nails begun to pierce the flesh as her left hand gained a fiercer grip on my face and hair. Her legs, which had been tight around my waist, began to squeeze as her moans turned to cries.

I got a little rougher, nibbling gently around one nipple and squeezing her bottom. I felt her fingers tighten around a clump of hair and the way it brought me a little closer to my own finish.

At that moment I saw stars. Not because I'd reached the point of ecstasy; but because I'd just been clubbed around the back of the head.

"Harder!" Alice cried, recieving me even more gratefully.

Before I could reply, or even withdraw from our lovemaking, I was hit around the head again. I groaned and pulled sharply out of Alice, twisting round to try and defend myself.

There, with his staff raised above his head, stood my master, come home early to find us lovemaking in his bed.

His eyes sparkled fiercely with danger and I instinctively hunched over Alice to protect both her body and her modesty.

"You filthy whore!" My master bellowed, looking to bring his staff crashing down on Alice's fragile body. "You salacious Deliliah! Fallen Eve! Tempting men to sin like a vile serpent!"

I would have leapt up to confront my master and give him the beating he deserved- regardless of his age and superior status- but I stayed over Alice to shield her.

"Move!" My master cried, seizing my shoulder and trying to rip me away. "I'll shatter her slattern's skull! I'll stripe her until she begs for mercy! I'll flay her tempting flesh from her lust-belepered bones!"

Alice was weeping silently, filled with shame, degradation, and fear. She had been humiliated, exposed and now called all the terrible names in the world. I was shaking with anger, ready to crush his dry old bones.

"Get...out." I growled, barely able to form the words. "Fuck off and get out... before I kill you."

An expression of shock came across my master's face and he faltered, lowering his staff a little.

"Now!" I roared, aware I put all of my mam's stregnth behind the words. I felt all her ferocity and rage within me and it was clearly felt by both my master and my lover. Alice's eyes dried and she looked a little comforted; my master seemed to stumble backwards. He gathered himself quickly and turned on his heel, storming out of the house.

I held Alice tight against me and stroked her arms and hair.

"It's okay, it's okay." I whispered. "I'm never gonna let him hurt you, you're my love. You're safe." I kissed her hair and nuzzled her.

"He's going send me away, Tom, I know he is." She said sadly.

"I won't let that happen." I told her firmly. "He won't send you away."

* * *

**Thank you! X**


	18. Chapter 16

**Not my best guys but I'm having a really tough time so be gentle :) I haven't yet commemorated Dusty Room's first birthday but I will do at a later date :) X**

* * *

**Alice**

Tom was as good as his word. Old Gregory never got to send me away, he sent Tom away instead. Not been back from Pendle all that long and I didn't even feel safe yet and the old git was already mixing things up again. Didn't like that. Reminded me of my childhood back in Pendle; feeling nervous and vulnerable and knowing my life might be turned upside down at any moment by the whim of someone else.

We were laid naked in bed, bathed in the moonlight as our sweat-slicked bodies cooled and dried. I was tucked in against Tom's body but I found no peace there, there was a terrible nervousness between us.

As I carressed Tom's face and chest- the chest of a scrawny boy entering manhood- he avoided eye contact; he'd looked me in the eye while we made love but he couldn't now. He couldn't bear to see the pain in my eyes. See all the questions he couldn't answer: where was he going? How long for? What would happen to me in his absence?

"I'm sorry, love," he sighed "I really am. I wish you could stay with me, I don't want to leave you. I'd give anything to stay." He mumbled weakly, pulling me tight against his chest and burying his face in my hair. I knew he was crying.

I could feel the tiny trembles in his throat and feel the tears dropping onto my scalp. I lay there and just let him cry, I didn't do anything to either remind him of my presence or make him feel alone.

So many emotions flowed through me: anger, embarassment, melancholy. I pitied Tom this outburst, so emotional and out of character that I knew it would burden him later and I felt purest hatred for the old tramp who'd brought these agonies upon my best beloved. But greater than both of these, and all of my other emotions combined, was my sorrow.

In the dungeons of Malkin tower they have a rack: a device used to torture people by pulling their limbs apart by the joints. They say it's the greatest pain any being could ever suffer. Clearly, they've never seen those they love in pain.

Tom pulled back and turned his face away, ashamed of his tears. He once said crying in front of me was the most humiliating experience of his life.

"I'm scared, Alice." He whispered, "I'm scared you'll forget about me, or that you'll stop caring about me. I don't want to lose you, Alice."

I picked up his left forearm and kissed it, kissed my brand tenderly.

"You will never, never lose me, Tom."

"I just love you so much." He whispered, choking on his tears. I leaned up on my forearm and kissed him, caressing his hair and face.

"I love you, Thomas Ward; I'd wait for you my entire life if I had to."


	19. Chapter 19

**Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, support and understanding- and that's for all my guest reviews, long-term supporters and particularly kittygirl320. I love you guys :3 x**

**And following that rather Academy-Award esque acceptance speech, here'****s the next installment of our favourire lovers...**

* * *

**Two weeks later**

I'd been living with Mr Arkwright for two weeks now and was slowly adjusting to life with a different master. One thing I struggled to adjust to, however, was life without Alice. I missed my best friend and lover and the emptiness was a constant aching in my chest.

Mr Arkwright, however, did little to remedy the situation and in fact behaved as though under instruction to aggravate the situation as much as possible- a notion I didn't entirely reject. I soon discovered that Mr Arkwright's demons were more extensive than alcoholism and that he also had a tendancy to debauchery. He made little secret of his frequent whoring and, much to my distaste, scorned that I did not join him. This evening was no exception as he sat, drunk, before the fire with a bottle of wine in his hand and his breeches halfway down his thigh.

"Good little mammy's boy aren't you, Master Ward?" He sneered- I could smell the alcohol on his breath from across the room. "Little Tommy; Tommy boy. Good little Tommy boy, too much of a good boy to look at a naked girl!" He wheezed with laughter and took another swig from his bottle. "Don't think I don't know you stroke your cock every night. Bet you didn't know that, did you, Master Ward? Finally find it, did you, after being a good little spook for so long? Whatever would mammy say?" He began to mumble as the alcohol wore on and I took the opportunity to relieve myself of his company and retreat to my room. He'd regret talking about my mam that way in the morning, but not half as much as he'd regret his drinking.

In truth, though, his words incensed me. I was uncertain as to how much he knew of Alice, if anything, but I nevertheless resented the implication that it was our passionate nights of lovemaking I missed the most. Lust was not an issue; if I could I would choose to never touch Alice again if it meant we could avoid being parted. I longed for the sight of her face again, I'd willingly endure the next six months of alcohol and abuse because at least then I could hope to see her smile again.

Mr Gregory had thought to intercept our letters and thus prevent us communicating our true feelings; no doubt hoping the seperation would weaken our bond. But, once again, my master had underestimated Alice who had found a most novel way of communicating.

Alice had long been fond of birds and, in my short absence, had used the allowance my master gave her to purchase a young white dove to keep as a pet. Although my master had initially regarded this as a most flippant and irresponsible purchase, he had since relented, writing in his first letter to me "the girl's bird hasn't proven as much trouble as expected and seems to have kept her in line. I'm pleased that in your absence the girl's found another creature to dote upon, and should hopefully prove less of a distraction for you in future." I'd, of course, understood the jibe contained within that short passage, but had paid it little heed. What my master didn't know was that the dove- whom Alice had christened "Sophia"- journed almost daily between Caster and Chipenden, carrying tiny slips of paper on her leg.

The first letter Alice had sent me had been filled with details of her new pet, Sophia, and as the said Sophia perched in my room pecking at some raisins, I read about Alice's dearest wish, since childhood, that she might one day have a dove of her very own. She said that she'd so far dreamt twice of being Sophia and flying on her soft, white wings to see me. I lay on my bed now, impatient for Sophia's return, despite being well aware she would not fly after sunset; Alice would not risk her new friend being snatched by a larger bird. Instead I lay in solitude with Alice's old letters, each one no longer than a few sentences, and all already memorized. I thought I detected a hint of sadness behind her words and whilst I would never wish her to be sad, it comforted me to know that it was not just I who suffered our seperation.

Reaching under my pillow I pulled out the small leather pouch in which I kept my greatest treasure. My mother had left it for me in her special room at the farm, knowing that I would one day have need of it. Fingering the fine golden bands longingly I decided once again, as I had every day since my departure, that I would be proposing to Alice upon my return.


	20. Chapter 20

**Thank you soo much guys for your unfailing loyalty and patience, as well as the heartfelt concerns for me! You guys really are the best and so I hope this chappie is worthy of your wait :3 x**

* * *

As it turns out, I never got to return to Alice as she came to Caster just one month before I was due to return. She'd come to save my life and, as a result, my master had banished her from Chipenden. As I'd said goodbye to her- her, my Alice, the sun in my sky- I felt the rings heavy in my pockets; a burning reminder of all the ways I'd failed her.

I had intended to go down on one knee and ask for her hand in marriage, but as I stood there on the tow path, I knew I wasn't worthy to ask Her to wear my ring. I'd failed her. I'd stood there and done nothing- even agreed- as John Gregory banished her from Chipenden forever.

It would be a fitting penance for me, I suppose: to live out my days in the place she and I had hoped to call home. To walk through it's corridors without seeing the swing of her hips and to sit in the garden and not smell the sweetness of her breath. To lie awake at night in the bed where we had once made love. That was my penance and that was my future.

I couldn't ask Alice to wear my ring, not after all I'd done, so I wore them both myself. My father's ring I wore on my ring finger, like a husband or monk; and my mother's ring I wore on a gold chain around my neck. I never took them off.

When John Gregory first saw the ring on my wedding finger he raised his eyebrows but said nothing, although as time wore on he seemed to grow more sympathetic. We never spoke about her; she was a constant, unspoken gulf between us. The woman I loved had taught me to hate this man and I would likely take that to my grave.

I didn't wonder idly from time to time what Alice was doing; I worried constantly. All I knew for sure was that she was still alive; I knew I'd have felt it if anything had happened to her. I knew I couldn't go on if anything happened to her as a result of my betrayal, her banishment. Sometimes I'd try to contact her using a mirror; sometimes she'd try to contact me. But each time, before her face even came into focus, I'd lose my nerve and fling myself on my bed, facing away from her. I couldn't bear to see her. I couldn't bear it if I saw hatred in her eyes.

I knew this treatment of her was cruel, but I felt I had no choice. I was being driven half mad with pain and anguish, not knowing what had become of her and then imagining all sorts of horrors. I felt there was no one left in the world who understood me except Alice and my mam and I couldn't bring myself to face either. I was ashamed; I'd let down the two women who mattered more than anything in my life and lost them both through my negligence and cowardice. I wasn't worthy of my mam and I certainly wasn't worthy of Alice.

As I lay on my bed, tears rolling over my nose to hand on the pillow, I heard a sound I thought too good to be true. A sound half-remembered; as though out of a dream. The gentle sound of a dove cooing by my window and, although I knew that it couldn't possibly be Sophia- whose neck had been wrung by John Gregory upon his discovery of my deception- it brought me some comfort. Like a whispered promise all the way from Pendle, the promise of her unfailing love and loyalty. My mother's ring around my neck pressed hard into my boyish chest, no longer a reminder of my shame but rather a reminder of hope.

There was an abrupt knocking at my door. I didn't even raise my head; John Gregory had lost all claim to respect from me and he could say nothing which would interest me.

"Boggart trouble, lad." He announced, standing uninvited in the doorway, "nothing you haven't encountered before. Better you stay here and study."

I met him with silence.

"Don't you agree lad?" He pressed; I didn't even look at him. "Well, I'll see you when I get back, lad. Hope you're feeling a bit better by then." He added awkwardly before turning on his heel and disappearing; into the mouth of hell for all I cared. In some small measure I pitied him and his attempts to mitigate the grevious harms he'd caused me, I knew I was once his only friend in this world. But he lost his last friend when he banished mine. Then the doves cooed again and I found myself soothed.

I lay with my head titled so I could look out of the window and watch the dark ink of the night stain the clear blue of the late evening. At around midnight it began to rain softly; a warm summer's shower. As my eyelids started to droop I was started out of my growing lethargy by a soft knocking at the front door.

No one ever came to the front door, they always rung the bell by the withy trees and I leapt up, instantly filled with hopes of Alice and as I took the steps two at a time. I snatched the door open and half fling myself outside.

"Alice!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Thanks guys for your understanding and enthusiasm! Special thanks to WinnifredArtemis, kittygirl320, Katie, Emmy and all my loving guest viewers :3 You guys are amazing, you really keep the story going! **

* * *

It was Alice. She stood there, soaked to the skin, the rain dripping off her hair and nose and I, without thinking, wrapped her in my arms and folded her lips in mine.

Her mouth was sweet, all the sweeter for our seperation, and her tongue as tender and exploring as it had always been. Her hands cupped the sides of my face so firmly I thought my jaw would break- but what was a broken jaw next to a newly mended heart? I squeezed her so, so tightly; I had to make sure she was real. I smoothed the rain-slicked hair back from her face, stared into her soft brown eyes. Her eyelashes were clumped together by the rain, making her eyes look bigger and wider.

I grabbed her round the waist and spun her into the house, snatching her up into my arms and carrying her through to the kitchen. I wrapped her in my cloak whilst I built the fire up from the dwindling embers as she sat there, in her old stool, drumming her heels against its legs. That habit used to drive John Gregory mad but to me it had always been just another of her adorable little quirks.

"I'll run you a bath" I told her and I heard the brusqueness in my voice; Alice flinched and I inwardly rebuked myself. I'd let my anger towards John Gregory and my anxiety of what would happen to the two of us at his return ruin this beautiful reunion. "I'm sorry." I said gently, "I didn't mean to snap, I'm not cross." I added, kissing her head.

She looked up at me questioningly, I could see she was wondering whether or not she'd made the right decision returning to me.

"Please don't go" I whisper, "please, Alice, don't leave me- I can't take that again."

The anxiety behind her eyes melted away and she smiled broadly, her lips folding into one of her delicious pouts, ripe for kissing. As I leaned down to snatch said kiss, however, she dodged away and smirked "too hungry now, Tom. Maybe I'll feel more like amore with a little dinner inside me." Taking the hint, I moved to around the kitchen cupboards, looking to make a little light supper for the two of us whilst Alice disappeared into my master's summer study in order to take a bath.

I cut some ham and cheese as well as some crusty bread and took it through to the study. There, Alice lay in the big brass tub, filled to the brim from the pump and heated by the gas burners. She had lost none of her loveliness but the toll of the past few months were clear as she lay there, eyes closed, her head leant back against the bath rim. She looked pale and tired, there were dark shadows under her eyes and her face was much thinner. Her hair was swept back into a low knot but I could see that it was cut a little shorter; it framed her delicate little face better and made her look more sophisticated.

I moved to kneel beside her in the bath and stroke her face tenderly. She flinched, jolted out of her daydream and I smiled reassuringly at her; squeezing a sponge over her shoulders. She reclined back against the bath and let me bathe her. It was a fitting punishment; nothing could have hurt me more.

As she dozed in the bath I gently sluiced her shoulders and arms, feeling how little they had become; I also noted with some concern the traces of blood on her knuckles. One of her breasts, disturbingly, had a poppy bruise just where it connected with the chest wall and were slightly less full. Her little waist confirmed my suspicions of her weight loss and her bruised shins my suspicions of her rough treatment.

Without waking her, I liberated her hair of its knot and, resting her head in the crook of my arm, moved her gently so I could sluice her hair over the bath. Alice was usually a light sleeper but she didn't so much as stir whilst I washed her hair through with soapmilk and gently towelled it dry. I lifted her out of the bath and left her lying on the sofa, wrapped in bath linen to keep her warm and dry whilst I tipped away the bathwater. It had been left filthy and I wondered, uncomfortably, what living conditions Alice had been reduced to. I left her dress to soak in the washing tub before going back up to her room and preparing it for her occupation; making the bed and airing it out.

I hadn't been in the room since she left and no sooner had I crossed the threshold than I sunk onto the rug and began to cry. The room was clearly exactly as she'd left it; the bedcovers drawn back, and her dresses hung up in the wardrobe. Her books still stood on the shelf above her desk and her drawings were still pinned to the wall. It was like her loss hit me all over again; the realisation of how I'd failed her and her evident certainty of returning.

"Tom?"

I spun round, tears still streaking my face and saw Alice standing there in the doorway, wrapped in the flimsy bath linen.

"I'm sorry, Alice." I whispered, "I'm so sorry!" At this, I broke into sobs and Alice knelt down before me and just held me, letting me cry onto her shoulder.

"Shhh, no need to be sorry, Tom. I'm here now- I'm back! And Old Smeggory can't do nothing to separate us. He can't send me away again, we won't let him- we're prepared this time and together the two of us-"

"Don't." I choked. "I don't want to even think about that."

She held me even tighter and lifted my chin to kiss me tenderly. At that taste of her lips- the taste that had lingered on my lips since the very first one- I allowed my mouth to open and admit her exploring tongue. The bath linen dropped to the floor as I folded her in my arms once more and felt my heart become whole again. Alice kissed and licked my neck and chest, discarding my shirt, "I've missed the taste of you!" She threw my breeches to the floor, exploring the loins forbidden to her for so long, grasping my buttocks whilst I grasped her hips and lapped at her breasts and nipples. We were caught in frenzy of desperate, fervent desire that couldn't wait another minute. We were caught b the desire of young lovers finally reunited; like a soldier returning to his sweetheart after long years of warfare.

I dropped back onto her bed and pulled her down on top of me. As she fell into my waiting arms the ring around my neck pressed into her collarbone and she reached to rip it away from around my neck. Seeing it was a woman's ring she twisted it around her forefinger and looked at me questioningly, pouting seductively.

"One more thing, Alice; make me the luckiest, proudest man alive-"

"Oh, alright, don't nag, Tom!" She joked, cutting across me, "Of course I'll marry you, no need to beg!" She smirked.

I caught that arrogant smirk between my lips and rolled her beneath me. Straddling her and smirking down, it was my turn to be smug "it's you who'll be begging in a minute!"

"We are getting married though, ain't we?" She placed a finger against my lips, suddenly serious again.

"It doesn't seem like I have a choice!" I joked, reaching behind me to undo the chain and take the ring off if, sliding it onto the third finger of Alice's left hand. "Welcome to your new life as the future Mrs. Alice Ward!"


	22. Chapter 22

**Thanks for reading guys! Lovin' your support! :D Special thanks to WinnifredArtemis, kittygirl320, Emmy, Kate and all my other amazing guest readers! :D**

* * *

**John Gregory**

I returned home earlier than expected but had little hope of a cheerful greeting from either the boggart or the lad; both had been as miserable as sin since the girl left. As I left my wet cloak and bag in the hallway, nothing struck me about the silence that had settled over the house; or the quiet stillness of the house. Since losing Alice, the lad had been little more than an animated corpse; responding only when necessary, ghosting around in silent resentment. Not that I blamed him; I could well remember the first flush of young love and he'd really seemed to care for the girl. But, she was nothing but trouble- a witch and a whore and he was better off without her. One day he'd realise that and thank me for it.

_She looked so much like her aunt- or rather, her mother, Bony Lizzie. I could well remember the day; that secret, s__hameful day when Lizzie had approached me on the sloped path leading away from Chipenden village. She'd wept and told me how afraid she was of her grandmother, Mother Malkin and begged me to deliver her. She'd looked so very innocent and yet __so very sensual; a tempting angel in those days before she lost her rosebud lips to her sneer and her eyes become cold and hard. We'd kissed, more than once, and I'd grown to trust her- more than that, I was beginning to develop great tenderness towards her_.

_Those stolen moments were well behind me now; Lizzie had betrayed me as all women invariably will and I had found out just in the nick of time. Thanks to village gossip I never went to the church that day to make an honest woman of the pregnant Elizabeth Malkin; but rather had gone prepared to where she and her grandmother were waiting in ambush to take my life and my bones._

_It had been merely through overhearing snide gossip in the butcher's that I'd discovered Lizzie was already pregnant when we'd begun courting and, following the confrontation with Lizzie and her grandmother I have reached another conclusion. I realised, after much consideration, that Lizzie and her grandmother had concocted this plan to use my bones in some sort of ritual to strengthen this unborn child; probably in it's mastery of dark magic._

_Despite this, I'd held firm to the hope that the gossip might yet be proven wrong however when I received a note from Lizzie in the early year my hopes were dashed. The note simply read "given birth to girl child, will call her Alice. Was already with child. Definitely not yours" in Lizzie's large, sloping scrawl but, in truth, I didn't need her to tell me that. Alice could not be mine, it had only been six months since our first encounter and here was a baby already born, with the mother's frank confession of infidelity. Since then, I'd put all thought_ _of_ _Lizzie and baby Alice from my mind and focused instead on my job as a spook. My duty to the county._

_Bony Lizzie hadn't been my first conquest, but, for a while, I thought she'd be my last; she spoiled my trust in women for a long time and it was a trust I didn't find again until my acquaintanceship with Mrs. Ward. I felt, when the full extent of Lizzie's betrayal was revealed, that I'd lost both a fiancée and a child although, in reality, I'd lost neither. I went through a dark time; drinking too much and neglecting my duty, and it was a full year before I recovered and felt able to be myself again. I continued my work, working even harder so as to make up for lost time, and over time the wound healed._

Desperately needing a bath, I went straight to my study and dropped my sodden clothes on the floor- only to find another's clothes already there! In a limp puddle on the floor lay a female loincloth and a binding, as some women wear to support their bosom; as well as a petite pair of pointy witches shoes. It wasn't hard to work out what had happened and I was filled with a rage beyond fury. All my work to protect him, being met with his constant resentment, and the stupid boy had been sneaking his whore in whenever I was away!

I took the stairs three at a time to the lad's room and hammered it with the side of my hand to force the old woof open. But no sooner had I crossed the threshold than I was stopped in my tracks. There, curled up together in the narrow bed, lay Tom Ward and his one true love. I couldn't believe how peaceful they looked and I both hated and envied them for it; for the love I too had so many times and lost just as many times.

The lad looked so utterly happy and confident in his love, one hand bent behind his head, the other holding her to him like a child holds it's comfort blanket. She lay, stretched over him, her entire body resting on his own. Her head rested on his chest, with one hand caressing his face, and the other on the bicep of his bent arm. They lay, in summary, like only first loves could. A divine combination of the secure, innocent conviction of childhood and the tender selflessness of mature love.

I hated them for their happiness but, by the same token, I wouldn't destroy it for the world. They deserved their happiness and, whatever would happen come morning, I wouldn't be the one to disturb them tonight.


	23. Chapter 23

**Thank you to all my amazing readers for your ongoing support! Special shout out to kittygirl320's Countess Malkin! Also, WinnifredArtemis and I have a new fic to be coming out soon; another "Daddy's Devilish Diary" so watch** **this** **space! X**

* * *

I woke with a feeling of dread- a feeling totally unsuited to my happy situation and at first I couldn't remember why I felt such unease. I was lying in the sunshine- in Alice's bed no less- and with said siren tucked in against my side!

Our lovemaking the previous night had been unlike anything I'd ever known before; I felt like a portion of our innocence had been lost and instead we'd found a new desperation, a determined fervour. Never had we felt so utterly one being as we did that night.

I remember how Alice had clung to me throughout; through the need to have me close rather than as a sigh of her pleasure; and how I had made love to her, holding her as though I were protecting her from an assault. We had realised, over the course of our seperation that we could, indeed, be parted indefinitely and must savour every second we could snatch together. We'd made love until my loins ached and my member lost it's proud erection; and still then had I refused to relinquish the moment, roaming Alice's body until she grew too sensitive for further pleasure.

I'd been filled with a yearning last night to connect with Alice in her entirety; to both possess and worship her. I'd wanted her to be utterly subservient to me at times and at others I'd wanted to obey her as my queen. I'd wanted her in every lewd position my imagination could conjure and yet I'd wanted to keep her body sacred. Alice had wanted me rough and she'd wanted me tender; to be pinned beneath me and be ridden like a whore, or else to lie with me and exchange gentle thrusts and kisses. We'd made love in a frenzy of passion: the way of young lovers who do not know when next they'll meet, desperate to savour all the delights of their love.

And yet, here we were. In a matter of seconds the bedroom door could be flung open and we could be separated once more- but, for now, we lay content in the afterglow of our night of passion. Finding myself once again "up with the lark" so to speak- a function my body had not always fulfilled in Alice's absence- I kissed my lover's exposed shoulder and slipped a hand down her body. Certain of finding her warm- although not necessarily moist- in her groggy state I was surprised to find the edges of her opening already sticky and astoundingly warm. I moaned and ground my hardening member into her hip, but further exploration halted my advances.

As my fingers ghosted a little further inside my lover I found that the moisture did not increase in volume, but only in stickiness. I momentarily withdrew my fingers to inspect them, and found that they held faint traces of blood.

"Alice," I whispered "are you awake?"

She made an unintelligible mumble and I kissed her neck; as she slowly grew to consciousness, however, she began to whimper. I could tell from her wincing that she was in some degree of pain and was both panicked and confused.

"Alice, are you alright?" I asked a little more urgently.

Her frown was quickly deepening and her body began to curl in on itself like a woodland animal- like Alice did when she was afraid or wounded.

"Tell me what I can do!" I pleaded, stroking her hair back from her strained forehead. I rolled her on her back to try and make her more comfortable but as her legs fell open, she gave a yelp of pain.

"Tom! Tom, I think I'm dying!" She gasped, and in that moment I thought my heart had stopped beating. "I'm bleeding; I'm bleeding, Tom!" She panted, snatching the covers up to reveal the dried blood at her entrance.

"I- I think that's normal" I mumbled, embarrassed, although my alarm momentarily subsidised. "Once a month..."

But Alice's cry of pain convinced me it wasn't just that and, moving quicker than thought, I kissed her for a moment before tearing down to stairs to alert my master.

"I need a doctor!" I yelled by way of explanation before sprinting down to Chipenden village. I had to wake the doctor myself when I arrived at his house and, despite raising his eyebrows when I told him his patient was at Master Gregory's house, he and his apprentice accompanied me without delay.

We jogged- rather than ran- back to the house, as the doctor was a man nearing his fifties and on the way I made him as much aware of the situation as possible, while his apprentice hung back to give us some privacy.

"It's my friend Alice," I told him, "she's in a lot of pain and bleeding a little from her... Between her legs." Again, the doctor raised his eyebrows, probably wondering exactly what sort of _friend_ Alice was but said nothing.

"Just to be clear- this young lady is experiencing pain and bleeding from her vagina? Or her anus?" The doctor asked this with an air that suggested he could not be shocked by anything; but whilst I knew what an anus was- having six older brothers- I was a little uncertain as to the first word.

"Not her anus..." I replied, grateful that my blush could be accounted for by the exertion of the run.

"Her vagina then? Her cunny?" He clarified, seeing my bewildered expression. My cheeks flamed, more with outrage than embarrassment- I knew what Mam would say to hear him talking that way about any woman but to hear him say it about Alice was even more shocking.

"Yes." I growled flatly in reply; the doctor nodded.

"And she's how old? It couldn't be her first monthly course?"

"I don't think so- she's fourteen now and I know she..." I trailed off, not wanting to admit that I knew Alice was regularly taking illegal contraceptive roots.

"Very good- and where was the pain coming from?"

"I'm not sure..."

"Very well." The doctor replied and we fell into silence until we reached the house. With a nod to Mr. Gregory, the doctor and his apprentice allowed me to lead him up to Alice's bedroom where she still lay, in agony, on the bed.

"Go and fetch us some hot water, lad, and make sure the towels are clean," the doctor ordered his apprentice before turning his attention to me. "You can leave us now, thank you, lad- you've done the right thing."

"No, Tom- stay, please!" Alice whimpered, reaching her hand out to me. The doctor nodded and I took my place at the head of the bed, caressing her face and stroking her hair.

"You're going to be okay, I promise." I whispered tenderly and the doctor agreed.

"Aye, you will, lass." He said in a surprisingly gentle tone as his apprentice returned with the hot water and towels. After washing his hands, the doctor stripped away the bed clothes to Alice's waist and lay a towel across her hips. "Now, if you could be a good girl and put these legs up for me, we'll see what the matter is."

Alice allowed the apprentice to hold her feet aloft while the doctor made a quick examination of her entrance. "Ooh, that looks nasty," he whispered reassuringly, his soothing tone making it clear she probably felt worse than the injury. Suddenly, Alice gave a cry and her body jolted, the doctor nodded and withdrew, signalling to the lad to lower Alice's feet and cover her once again. Washing his hands again, as his apprentice held a cup of something dark and pungent to Alice's lips, the doctor seemed almost cheerful.

"Nothing you won't recover from," he told her jovially, "but I'll give you some pain relief until it goes away."

"But, what caused it, doctor?" I protested, concerned by the apparent lack of a thorough examination as Alice's eyelids began to droop.

"Young love caused it." Replied the doctor, with an ironic twist of the mouth "young love, balmy nights, and a vigorous lover. The poor girl was probably at it for a long time, by which point her natural juices wouldn't have been enough to properly coat the canal. She's chafed somewhat, in the passage, and will need to abstain for a week at the very, very least- perhaps six. You'll need to leave her until she feels up to it." He added sternly, looking me in the eye- as though he could possibly make me feel more guilty.

"She was bleeding," I whispered, "and I caused this?"

The doctor laid a gentle hand on my shoulder and his expression softened, "Don't blame yourself, lad; it's not the first time this has happened since these blasted laws forbidding artificial mucus and contraception- God save the King." He added quickly; I didn't echo it back to him. This bastard King was a curse on us all. And he'd hurt my Alice.

Very deliberately, the doctor reached into his bag and placed a dark blue pot of ointment on the bedside table. We both knew what it was without any words being passed between us, and I took a guinea from my pocket and placed it in the front pocket of his work bag. The doctor nodded at me and, signalling to his apprentice, took his leave of me.

I moved back to the head of the bed and took Alice's head in my arms, kissing her forehead. Her eyes flickered open and she smiled up at me, "it was worth it, Tom." She whispered, "whatever happens to me when I next wake up, it was worth it. Even if Old Gregory walks in and yells at you for fucking me bloody." She smirked.

I took her hand and kissed the palm, folding her fingers over the ghost of the kiss, and the inside of her wrist. "We're going to be okay, though." She tugged my hand and I lay down beside her, wrapping my body around hers as she rested her head on my shoulder, playing at idly twiddling our fingers as her eyelids began to droop again. She sighed.

"I do need to go back to Pendle, though, Tom." She smirked up at me, "can you spare me for that long?"

"You know I don't like to," I replied, kissing her forehead. "I don't like you going into danger."

"I'll be back, though." She mumbled sleepily.

"Is it important?" I could hear a whiny edge in my voice but, as much as I hated it, I couldn't prevent myself from asking the question. "Do you have to go?"

"Yes," she whispered drowsily, "but I'll explain it all when I get back, I promise."

"Then I'll have to settle for that." I conceded, and lay beside her, closing my eyes and allowing myself to doze.

"Did you mean it?" Alice mumbled, "that thing you said last night?"

I'd no need to clarify what she was talking about; I'd meant that proposal with all my heart.

"Yes."

"That was a good dream." She mumbled and I leaned over and kissed her forehead. "I hope we can do it one day- I want to marry you. And the babies. And the house." With that she trailed off the two of us lay there in lazy ecstasy until night fell and Alice took her leave.

We parted with a kiss; and a promise to come back to one another. To make that happy dream come true.


	24. Chapter 24

**Thank you soooo much for all your patience guys! I know it's been FOREVER :'( I'm a very cruel author and I don't deserve you- but thanks for sticking around anyway! Lots of love! X**

* * *

**Alice**

I returned to Pendle in my own time, at my own leisure, rather than when I was commanded. Had it been up to the likes of Grimalkin and Tom's mam I would never have left- they'd both forbidden I even have contact with him until they deemed it suitable; and I'd ignored them the same way Tom ignored Old Gregory. When I met with them both again, at the vacant Malkin Tower, I could see they were both furious but uncertain how much they could get away with before they made me snap and lose control-again.

_The first time they'd pushed me over the edge- that night I'd returned to Pendle after finding out who my father really was- they'd really got to me, insisting that I forget all about Tom now. They'd not given me any_ _peace. I'd turned and tried to get away, to go for a walk and clear my head, but they'd just followed me until I thought my head would burst. I'd spat at Grimalkin then, as she was closest to me, feeling my vision go dark and hearing the rush of blood in my ears. _

_I'd emerged from my heightened emotional state to find myself sat cross-legged on the battlements of the tower. In the woods below, I could see two scouts staring up at the tower, probably wondering who I was and what I was doing. I wasn't entirely sure myself. The ghost of a tune still hung on my lips, I realised I'd been singing._

_The night hung thick, black and warm about my shoulders- which I now realised were bare; I vaguely remembered Mrs Ward shaking me, causing my dress to rip. I adjusted myself and let my legs dangle while I stretched back to look at the stars. The same stars which would be shining over Tom tonight. _

That night I'd left to see Tom it was simply because I'd had enough- I loved him and I wanted to see him. And now I was back to tell them the way it was going to be.

I walked brazenly through the catacombs of Malkin tower, feeling almost invincible. Previously whenever I'd stepped foot in that place I'd been filled with the need to escape; now it felt like every brick responded to me, welcoming me back. I felt like it belonged to me now that the other witches had been driven out. That helped my feelings of invincibility; I felt like the mistress of Malkin tower and, furthermore, the whole of Pendle. I felt like if I spoke, they would listen and if I frowned, they would tremble.

Doors opened for me without my even touching them and I felt a rush of excitement- the tower was actually responding to me as if I were its mistress, a privilege usually reserved for the coven leader. Something about this place now made me feel giddy and excited, made me want to push the boundaries. I gave a little leap of joy and a giggle escaped my lips but I was quickly stopped by the pain between my legs. Just walking here had been a labour in itself.

As soon as I entered the main atrium I was faced by Mrs. Ward, who seemed more subdued than usual, as though she had received some bad news, although her face brightened when she saw me as she came towards me.

"Alice!" She said warmly, beginning an embrace then thinking better of it and just tapping my arms instead. "You're looking better," she continued enthusiastically, resting her hands on my shoulder and playing with my hair, "That'll please my son. He won't have liked to see you as thin and pale and hollow-looking as you were before. You've got a real radiance about you now. Much better." She concluded approvingly. Needless to say, she wasn't my ideal mother-in-law. I'd rather hoped for someone who could replace the absent mother figure in my own life as oppose to the way Mrs. Ward treated me at times; as though she was a bawd pimping me out for the pleasure of her youngest son.

She tried to be ingratiating then, linking her arm through mine and drawing me closer, "was it as good as you remembered? Better? Worth waiting for?" She asked with a sickly smile, her attempt at women's talk falling hopelessly flat and I remember wondering if Ellie had to endure the same thing. Probably not, she didn't look at Jack the same way she looked at Tom- Jack wasn't her prized possession, her home-grown warrior. I wasn't at all uncomfortable discussing my own body- I'd have been happy to give her enough gory detail to make her toes curl- but what happens between me and Tom is sacred.

I was spared any further interrogation by the entrance of Grimalkin.

"Leave the girl be," she said, "she'll be exhausted after her journey; you can talk later."

It was clear Mrs. Ward wasn't happy taking orders from anyone but she must have seen some sense in Grimalkin's words, and that it wasn't the time to probe me, because she indicated that we may leave her presence. Grimalkin and I moved to the main room and began to climb until we reached the archer's antechamber, which contained all the weapons needed for a siege. It was about halfway up the tower and I was exhausted by the time we got there, sinking straight to the floor. Grimalkin followed suit and, without a word said between us, we both burst into a fit of giggles.

"I'm guessing it was good then," said Grimalkin, nodding towards my lap; she could doubtless smell the blood. "How are you feeling?"

"Still a little sore," I shrugged "but it was worth it."

"The romp?" Grimalkin smirked.

"No, seeing Tom. It was worth taking the risk to see Tom. I missed him." I finished on a whisper, choked with emotion as I recalled our separation. "Sorry," I whispered, turning my face from her in embarrassment.

Grimalkin just nodded silently as she rose and turned away. I wondered sometimes why she couldn't bear to discuss tender feelings; for women's talk, to discuss technique and skill, there was no one better. But I'd never got her to discuss any tender feelings except her own; she couldn't seem to bear to attribute those emotions to anyone but herself. I guess that's what comes of being so alone: you loose touch and, eventually, you lose empathy. But that was never going to happen to me. As I sat deep in thought, I realised that perhaps this was why I felt so alone in Pendle; and why there was no one I felt was quite like me. No one but Tom. We both knew what it was to feel alone, even when we're surrounded by people.

I don't know how long I was sat there for, but I knew it was after sunset, as I was stirred from my little safe haven by the smell of cooking. I limped awkwardly down the stairs, smoke causing my eyes to stream, and Grimalkin looked up and smiled at me gently. Mrs. Ward just handed me a plate without so much as glancing in my direction and I wondered yet again why she could never meet my eye. Was it because she knew what me and Tom got up to? But, surely the she'd be the same way with Ellie. It always seemed somewhat guilty to me, her avoidance of my gaze, and I often found myself wondering what she had to be guilty about.

"Eat up," Grimalkin told me brightly, and I saw her rare grin. "Tomorrow, we're heading to see your Tom."

"We?" I frowned at her.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head," Mrs. Ward breezed over to me, brushing a strand of hair back from my face. "You just keep doing as you're told... poor child." She added under her breath, turning away from me.

"I've got a right to know." I said coldly, folding my arms, "as far as I'm concerned, I'm finished here. Tom wants me back, I've no reason to stay. I don't want to stay here, just floating round in misery, while you two plot and don't tell me anything. I'm going back to Tom, and I'm not taking you with me."

Mrs. Ward just sighed as if to say 'the child's being difficult again' and I turned on my heel and walked away. To tell the truth, I doubted she and I would ever get along- maybe she was jealous of her youngest son, some women are like that: wanting to be the only women in their sons' lives. Mrs. Ward struck me as that sort, and the way she looked at me confirmed that impression. I didn't like the way she sometimes pressured Tom to choose between the two of us; she did it subtly; asking if her cooking wasn't the best he ever tasted, if anyone could mend his clothes quite as well as her. Nothing beat the look on her face when Tom felt forced to say my cooking was better.

I walked back up to the armoury, collected my things, and left without so much as a backward glance. I knew where I belonged and it wasn't in Pendle, or talking with witches. As far as I was concerned, there were only two people in the world I could truly love; and I was returning now to the one person who mattered.

* * *

**Thank you! More free time on my hands ATM so I should be updating fairly soon! X**


	25. Chapter 25

**Just a big thank you to all my beloved readers! I really do love each and every one of you! :D Just in case you haven't checked, I recently added the previous chapter- wouldn't want you to miss one! :P X**

* * *

I didn't need to tell Alice not to bother going to Chipenden, Grimalkin told her to come straight to the farm and so she was there, waiting for me, when I arrived. I'd gone straight up to my room after dinner, not really in the mood to listen to one of Jack's rants about sharing his own home with witches and their cohorts, and found the love of my life draped seductively over my bed, her naked body illuminated by the candle light. Her pale loveliness displayed like an erotic portrait. I approached and took her left hand, kissing it, and held it against my face, lying down beside her. I took her face in my hands and kissed it and she smiled softly, relaxing against me. I stroked her hair and she wrapped her legs around mine.

"Have you missed me?" she whispered teasingly and, in truth, I felt a little confused. Was she about to seduce me or were we just going to hold each other?

"You know I miss you when you're gone," I said, nuzzling her. I lay one hand gently against her bared flower; she'd shaved again (which, personally, I didn't favour, she had the most gorgeous hair) and it only served to emphasize her injury: she was a little jswollen still, and had a vascular blush, the tiny purple veins showing through the skin, evidencing her pain. She was hot to the touch and jerked a tiny bit when I touched her so I quickly withdrew my hand. "I'm sorry" I said gently.

"I might yet be generous," she breathed, making my ear tickle.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her close to me so we were laid next to each other on the bed. I put one hand behind her head, stroking her hair and catching her lips in mine. Our lips passed over each other softly at first, almost as if they too were caressing, I stroked her chin with my thumb as we kissed, and Alice's fingers ghosted soothingly over my temples. I traced her bottom lip as we kissed and she gently ruffled my hair with one hand. She sucked my bottom lip into her mouth and tapped my tongue with her own, sliding up and down its length; I shifted our weight so I was lying on top of her, cradling her beneath me.

I moaned against her ear contentedly. "I love you" I mumbled, sucking her ear into her mouth, nibbling it tenderly before releasing it and nuzzling her cheek.

"I love you too, Tom," she whispered, caressing my face adoringly, as though committing it to memory. Perhaps she was.

"There's something I wanted to mention to you though, Alice." I placed my hands on my waist and rested my forehead against hers, "about something you said that morning, after we'd called the doctor to you. You said what we'd done last night and you called it fucking... and I don't see it that way. I see it as something more intimate than that- you're my lover, my future wife; not my whore."

"I know, Tom!" She exclaimed; holding my gaze, entrancing me, drawing me in. "I was only joking! Don't really know why I said it." She added apologetically.

"Don't be silly," I whispered, kissing her forehead. "I'm not cross; I just want you to know how much you mean to me; I want you to know that this is for life. You know I'm no good with words!" I added, smirking. We laughed softly together and I took both her hands in my own. Alice playfully twiddled our thumbs and cuddled against me.

She looked up at me, bemused, when she felt the evident hunger in my breeches.

"Ignore that- it's got a mind of his own!" I chuckled. "I don't think it knows we're staying away from that for the moment! How are you, my love? Are you still in pain?" I added, hearing the remorse in my voice in the form of a petulant, almost whiny edge. It was a far cry from the masculine depth I knew would spark Alice's desire but I thought she needed to know that I hated what I'd done to her.

"Hmmm, well it is still sore," she replied, her face hidden coyly against my chest. "Take off that shirt and we'll see how I feel..."

"Alice, no! I'm not going to risk hurting you again! The doctor said we'd need to wait at least a week and it's only been a few days."

To my surprise, she sighed irritatably and turned her face away. "I'm sick of everyone treating me like a child! You ain't the boss of me, Tom. I can be with anyone I want, whenever I choose!" She snapped, springing up off the bed and out of the door, slamming it behind her as she pulled her dress on over her head.

It took me a couple of seconds to realise what had just happened and I scrambled up after her and down the stairs. I caught up with her as she was tearing open the back door and striding down to the where the witches had begun their encampment.

"Alice!" I screamed, my voice deep and commanding to compensate for my slow progress, as I tried to run without revealing my evident desire to the encampment of witches although, judging from the cackles and whoops of laughter, I think I failed. "Alice!" I screamed again and this time she turned around; I'd manage to catch up to her and as she turned I saw that she was wiping away tears. I could think of only one way to show her that I loved her and that I truly meant for us to be together.

"I love you!" I announced before taking her lips in mine. I caught her up in my arms and spun her around in the air, feeling the vibration against my lips as she laughed into the kiss.

**Thank you soooo much to my amazing readership! I love you! The second part to this is coming soon, I thought it'd be too long if I added it now :) going to start writing it ASAP- I'm afraid I don't know yet if there'll be a Christmas special but I definitely want to try and get one out for you guys! X**


	26. Chapter 26

**This Christmas, my beloved readership, I give you the gift, not of a Christmas-themed chapter, but of devious conspiracy! Set your brains alight as you recover from that dinner! :D X**

* * *

**Mrs. Ward**

I'd given Jack strict instructions to let Tom sleep as late as he liked, given that he was no longer a farm labourfroer. He'd initially ranted about Tom not pulling his weight and had become even more excited when Ellie had told him Alice's bed hadn't been slept in. Eventually, Jack had isolated himself from his youngest brother, believing him so deeply invested in immortality he was beyond society. He thought it utterly shameful that his youngest brother of fourteen years should spend a good portion of the day frolicking with a young witch and it had even resulted in a fight on Tom's second night home.

Jack had spotted the two of them intertwining their feet under the table but, restrained by a stern look from Ellie, had kept his peace. When he'd seen Alice's bare foot seductively caress Tom's calf and shin, however, he'd banged his fist on the table and bellowed.

"Look, Tom, we all wanted to dip our wicks at fourteen- but fucking a witch? That's beyond the pale!"

At this point Tom had sprung up and it was clear that an altercation would have taken place had it not been for the intervention of myself and Ellie; Alice looked like she'd have liked nothing better than to have watched Tom beat his eldest brother to a pulp. After that James had taken Jack aside and calmed him down and, when the two had returned to the table Alice had switched seats with James so that she and Tom were sat next to each other.

YThat evening as the rest of the family sat in the living room, chatting, but Tom and Alice were up the stairs like two rats up a drainpipe the moment the plates were cleared. Jack scowled in distaste at the sound of the two of them scrabbling up the stairs and the slightly wet sounds of their impassioned kissing as they ascended. They abstained in front of the family, I suspected, out of respect to Ellie whose sense of propriety was easily offended and I also sensed that Alice felt she was achieving some small victory by preventing me from witnessing my son's obvious pleasure in her.

Despite this, the two of them spent most of the morning embroiled together in a passionate embrace, the sighs of which had been known to fill the house in the dead of the night. Little did Tom know, I had no need of sleep and heard every whispered "I love you" and every hushed moan. Young lovers are never discreet.

Did I envy them? Certainly not. I envied Alice her obvious youth and beauty- those treasures which I had forsaken in the name of vengeance- and I even envied my own son his naïve belief that everything would inevitably resolve itself. But I allowed them these moments of pleasure; not merely because their future together was uncertain, but because I needed to harness the love which was blossoming between them.

A sacrifice must be made and for that Tom must love another more than he had ever loved me. But I had also woven many sorrows for them, as much pain as would be needed for them to form the bond of lifetime love in the space of just a few years and for this I had been forced to fully exercise any remaining power I'd held over Morgana and Pan; old allies in my struggle against the fiend. Together we would guide Tom and Alice along the torturous journey to their eventual destruction, and the great purpose it would achieve. My youngest son would be sacrificed so that the world may know a new age of light, with me at the forefront. I would once again cloak myself in my immortality and be revered as a goddess and queen; the only one with the power to stop me, the one who could lead a greater legion than the earth ever previously beheld, would inevitably be killed in the realisation of my plan. Every night they lay in each other's arms brought my victory a little bit closer.


	27. Chapter 27

**Thank you one and all for your continued support! Just wanted to clarify that the Alice/Mrs Ward scene is a heated argument, but not a passionate argument- Alice only has eyes for Tom and Mrs Ward only has eyes for... whoever :P Thank you once again and please remember to check you haven't missed an update- last update was Dec 25th :) X**

* * *

**Alice**

Tom and I hadn't even spent one night at the farm before Mrs. Ward had cornered me. Tom had been washing, his chest bared before the mirror but I'd come up behind him and stood pressed against his back, kissing his arms, back and chest as I sponged and caressed him from behind. As my hands ghosted up and down his chest, my mouth buried at the base of his neck, kissing and sucking as he moaned, Mrs. Ward burst in.

"Ah, there you both are!" She'd said, over-brightly, ignoring the obvious. "Alice, could I have a moment please? Maybe in my room? Dinner'll be on the table in an hour or so, Tom," she added, stroking his hair back and kissing his head; I wished I could ignore my jealousy as easily as she could ignore her son's straining erection.

Mrs. Ward had taken me down to her room on the first floor and told me to make myself comfortable.

"I'm not at all angry with you, Alice, for taking my son to your bed and I don't want you to be afraid of me. There is no need for rivalry between us; I'll always be his mother and you'll always be his significant other. And I want to help the two of you. I know the two of you love each other very much and I wanted to make sure the two of you don't suffer any distance between you- so I want to give you this."

As I sat in silent shock she opened a drawer and took out a pot of homemade ointment.

"Use this generously and the pain should stop within a couple of days." She said briskly, coming to sit opposite me again.

Using the back of my hand, I swiped it from her own and sent the pot skittering across the room- I might be in a little pain but I'd rather die than put something she'd made- a little piece of her- in that part of me! That secret place was for me and for Tom; where we connected and no one else was coming into that union. Mrs. Ward hissed fiercely, grabbing my face in one hand and forcing me to look at her,

"Listen here, you little whore!" She hissed, her whole demeanour holding a darker cruelty than I'd ever previously beheld. She was holding my face tightly and it hurt- it felt like she'd break my jaw or squeeze my eyes out. "You are nothing. Nothing! You are just the pretty little whore who takes my son to bed, and I will _not_ let a little tramp like you ruin everything. So you now take this ointment," with her other hand she squeezed the pot into my hand, as though she wanted to crush my fingers, "and you take your pretty little face, and your pretty little cunt to my son's bed and you let him rut over you like the gutter bitch you are. You are filth, and don't you ever forget that." She hissed, throwing me away from her across the room.

I threw the ointment straight back at her and, in her shock, hit her in the face with it. I strode back towards her and grabbed her chin, forcing my young, vital, red lips against her old, thin, and colourless ones and even thrust my tongue into her mouth before spitting at her feet.

"That's the closest you'll ever get to kissing him!" I hissed at her. "You're right- there is no rivalry between us. I'm his soulmate and you're just the evil bitch who happened to bring him into the world."

I left the room and ran to Tom, where I knew I'd be safe. I wasn't sorry- she'd violated me with her cruel insults and attempted to sully the relationship between me and Tom with her lewd implications. So I'd violated her in return- hopefully the twisted bitch didn't see anything else in it, but it wouldn't surprise me if she wanted to join me and Tom in bed. She turned my stomach- so much so I tasted bile as I walked away from her room.

Tom was horrified when he saw me, my face both white and flushed with anger and her hand marks across my face from where she'd grabbed me.

"She slapped you?" He asked, appalled, getting off the bed and coming towards me.

"No, she just grabbed my face," I mumbled, Tom caressing my face between his gentle hands. He pulled back a little.

"You smell funny," he whispered, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

I realised then that the pain between my legs was gone- more than that, I felt terrific! It was the same feeling I got whenever magic was pulsing through my body, just waiting to be used.

"It's just... Alice stuff." I whispered back, using the unwritten code between us.

"Alice stuff." He whispered back, resting his forehead against mine and caressing my hair. "Did she hurt you?"

"She said some things, but that's not important. I don't even want to talk about her- it's just you and me, we're all that matters."

Tom picked me up gently, so my feet were resting on his own and led me back towards the bed. We tumbled down onto it, his hands still caressing my face and hair as I buried my face against his chest, wanting to feel protected and loved. He kissed my neck and across the deep neckline of my dress, both of us keeping our clothes on- somehow that felt more right in the moment than the slow, luxurious strip we were used to. This wasn't to be a triumph of love, lust and paradise- this was about comforting me.

"Are you still sore?" He whispered, sliding down my body. I shook my head in response and he smirked devilishly, "good, I'll be gentle."

Normally he'd draw each of my flower lips into his mouth individually and would suck until my inner became extremely hot but this time he was gentler, using his tongue to part me before drawing back. He started to lick the exterior and I could hear him inhaling my scent smugly- he thought it only fair that he could cause that distinct scent and make my arousal as evident as his own. He parted me again, licking up and down where my flower joined and I squirmed, making an irritated noise, just wanting something hard inside me.

"Touch me." I whispered.

"I am touching you." Tom whispered back, a huge smug against my flower.

He licked harder and faster and I started panting loudly, bucking my hips towards him. Tom kept going at the same speed and forced and, crying out, I felt my body start to contract all over, my fingers and toes clenching and pushing my centre closer to Tom's mouth. When my moment came and a moan spilled from my mouth it was spine-tinglingly beautiful. But I knew I could have even better.

This time, Tom became a little bolder and, parting me, sucked my inmost parts until my nub burned with need and was at the mercy of his tongue. Looking me in the eye, he sucked the nub and ran the tip of his tongue up and down and I started screaming with pleasure, knotting my fingers tightly against his scalp. When that second moment came, I closed my eyes and relaxed my body completely, trembling with ecstasy and moaning his name contentedly. I wanted him to hold me but he obviously hasn't finished; he stayed nuzzling and kissing my burning core.

I took his face gently in his hands and brought it back up so I could kiss him, shivering with delight as his tongue entered his mouth and reminded me of my recent experience. He was the best kisser ever to grace the earth, let alone my embrace. He could move earth and starry heaven with the tenderness of his kisses.

But, as much as I love him, I didn't bother pointing out to him that the vestige of my juices were still evident- a tiny bit in his hair, a bit in each corner of his mouth and a smear on his cheek. I would forever cherish the Ward's shocked faces: the scrawny boy they never thought much of had been playing lover boy to the girl who wasn't good enough for him. There was a night of passion in store for both of us.


	28. Chapter 28

**Just in time for Valentine's day! How like me to come in at the 11th hour! :P Just a little something I whipped up very quickly on a whim for you all :) Once again, a enormous thank you to (in no particular order!) kittygirl320, WinnifredArtemis, Emmy, allithegator, alicedeane033, Katie, DaringDauntless and all my guest reviewers! Last updated January 7th so check you haven't missed out! X**

* * *

**Tom**

In my nightmare, I saw Alice. She was stood on a huge double bed, moving her waist and hips in a smooth rhythmic fashion to unheard music. She turned her back, smirking over her shoulder as she dropped the silk shift she was wearing. As she turned to face me she dropped to her hands and her knees and crawled across the bed, blowing a kiss before sitting back to her heels; running her hands up over her hips, her waist and her breasts, piling her hair on top of her head.

The dance was erotic- although perhaps a little confrontational for my taste- but the dream quickly became a nightmare when I heard a man's low chuckle.

"Very well, my love, you've persuaded me." And a man approached her, holding his arms out to embrace her. Alice returned his embrace, kissing him.

"You'll spare them all?" She pressed, pulling back briefly from the kiss.

"Yes," he growled, pulling her down onto the bed, "I'll spare them all, even your little spook."

They kissed again, and I watched his hands traverse her body. He seemed cruel, mindful only of his own pleasure, as he yanked her nipples, sniffed her core and slapped wherever else, clearly appreciating the feel of her firm flesh beneath his hand. It was rough and animalistic, and I knew Alice would never want me to treat her that way, but I could tell from his deep inhalations at her most private area that her body was having a very different reaction to him. I felt, not a pang, but a lightning bolt of jealousy and impotent rage- I felt the most complete humiliation I'd ever experienced, the knowledge of having been bypassed as an unsatisfactory lover.

I'd watched her straddle him and begin gyrating smoothly, allowing him to enter her with a soft moan. I watched her slide back and forth, allowing the unknown man's hands to abuse her breasts, squeezing and pinching, as they bounced gently above him. His eyes were closed and, for the first time, Alice allowed her mask to slip, showing her open disgust for the act she was performing. I realised, for the first time, that she couldn't help the situation she was in any more than she could help her body's reaction, as she involuntarily moaned at certain points. To an extent, it vindicated her in my mind- although I still couldn't shake the hurt of her betrayal.

I watched, feeling almost sick, as the man's thrusts became more frantic and Alice started to mimic his cries, as though she too was nearing climax- although her face told a very different story. Alice raised her hips a little as he started to release and I saw his quivering member, and the creamy fluid beginning to escape Alice's core and trickle down her thighs. I felt some small satisfaction from the fact that she hadn't let him cum inside her- and even more so that he hadn't been able to bring Alice to her moment of bliss.

But the betrayal was worse than anything.

I watched Alice drop onto the bed next to the sweaty, older man who'd just spent twenty minutes using her for release. He wrapped his arm around her and I saw her distaste as she accepted the embrace. I could see Alice had no interest in him; he looked to be about fifty, with long dark hair and a great moustache that curled below his chin, showing very sharp white teeth and lips suffused with blood.

"Tell me what you're thinking about, Alice." The man purred.

"Nothing." She replied, her voice apathetic. "Nothing at all."

* * *

"You see what I can do to you, Tom?" I heard the voice of the fiend, insidious, as the image slowly faded from my vision. "All this will come to pass- unless, of course, you and I can make friends. Do you really think I'd give my beloved daughter to someone I can't even trust? I'd rather give her to a man I trust, a man with whom I can work. Will you be that man, Tom? There are others, you know. She could have anyone- here, let me show you..."

My vision was once again overtaken by another of the fiend's conjurings.

* * *

I saw Alice, although she looked slightly younger than when I first met her; maybe twelve or so. She was up against a wall in a barn, a boy's hand against her developing bosom; there was something clinical about the encounter. They didn't kiss and they maintained a stony eye contact. The boy slipped his hand under Alice's skirt, trailed it up her leg and held it against her most sacred area for a few moments before withdrawing, looking greatly disappointed.

"Told you I wouldn't flinch." She said defiantly, raising her chin.

"I didn't want you to," he mumbled, looking sulky, "I wanted to see if I could make you wet."

She just smirked, "pay up," holding out her hand. I was surprised to see a huge pair of bottle-top glasses, rather than money, although I quickly admonished myself for that emotion- I knew in my heart what sort of girl Alice was. I knew Alice didn't wear glasses and therefore must have undertaken some sort of wager to recover them on behalf of someone else- the boy was, after all, much larger than her and to have fought him would have been an impossibility.

* * *

I saw Alice again, laid in bed, in an unfamiliar house. She looked a little older, it was perhaps just before we met- or, at least, I hoped so. It was clear from her moaning exactly what she was doing and as she thrashed beneath the sheets I could hear her panting a name.

"Billy!" She moaned as her body coiled in pleasure; although it gave me some small comfort to see she was clearly not experiencing the same ecstasy I was capable of providing her with.

But, suddenly, I was overcome with the realisation of exactly what may have really happened to Billy Bradley.

* * *

I awoke, my cheeks burning with anger and tears of frustration dropping off the edge of my chin. My blood was boiling with fury and I was shaking from head to toe as I stumbled out of my hammock. Since boarding the Celeste, Alice and I had slept side by side almost every night, although tonight she was nowhere to be found.

Maddened by what I'd witnessed, I stumbled around the deck almost feverishly. As I passed the captain's cabin I heard an unmistakable noise; the sound of Alice's laughter. She was joined in her laughter by Captain Barnes and I could hear the two of them taking, although their voices were too low to make out the actual words.

I paced the deck up and down before laying into one of the masts, kicking and punching it like my greatest enemy; the way I'd once laid into the tree in the spook's western garden. I found I was screaming and banging my head violently against it, trying to obliterate the memory of what I'd seen, the thoughts they conjured. Thoughts of what Alice had done, and what she was doing now maddened and crippled me because I knew now that, whatever she was once or chose to be now, that I loved her unconditionally. I knew that if I married her I'd likely spent the rest of my life uncovering uncomfortable truths, but the truth is, as much as that'd hurt, it's what I want- that's the life I choose for myself.

I didn't hear Alice approaching, I only became aware of her presence when I felt two slender arms wrap themselves around me from behind and I looked down to notice my ring on her finger. I'd never seen her wear it before and it surprised me.

When I turned to look at her I saw her shock at my tear stained, bloody face as she took it in her hands and began to kiss me.

"Who did this to you?" She whispered, caressing my sore face and nuzzling my chest. She took my hands in her own and straightened out the fingers, kissing the blood away.

"Why were you with Captain Baines?" I whispered.

She looked a little surprised but kissed me fully, holding her left hand up for me to see the ring.

"I was talking to him about our wedding. He agreed to marry us, if we want."

"Alice, I just want you to promise me something;" I whispered, taking her face in my sore hands, "I'll never ask you to change, but I want you to promise that you'll never turn from me. Don't ever shut me out."

"Tom!" She whispered, "I'd never shut you out- you're my world. Wouldn't be anything about you, would I? We're a team. I promise."

"I love you, Alice Deane."

"I love you too, Tom Ward." I tried to kiss her but the pain of pressing my nose into her cheek was so great it caused my eyes to water. Alice kissed the tears from my cheeks as they fell. "Come on, let's get you patched up."


	29. Chapter 29

**Thank you everyone for your loyalty and support- it really means a great deal to me! X**

* * *

**Tom**

Alice and I were laid in my hammock on board the Celeste, gazing up at the stars while I used the ropes and the weight of our bodies to rock us back and forth. Being on deck, aboard a vessel filled with men who'd showed abundant interest in Alice, she hadn't stripped completely, but was wearing her binding and loincloth under the cover of my cloak. Since the heat had forced us to start sleeping above deck we hadn't made love and I ached with longing to be inside her; missing the deep emotional connection more than the physicality, sublime though it was. Instead, we'd had to confine ourselves to surreptitious touches beneath the cloak, trying to make as little noise as possible to avoid attracting the attention of any of the other men on board, my master included.

"Tom," Alice whispered, tapping my chin to make me look at her, "would this be different when we're married?"

I slipped my hand back between her legs and caressed her still-moist core, "Well, we wouldn't have to be trying so hard to keep quiet." I whispered.

"You, master Ward, are insatiable." She told me sternly and I chucked, withdrawing my hand.

"I'll never let it be said I leave you unsatisfied." I replied, but there was some grain of truth behind it and I briefly felt the resurgence of the same insecurities: that I was an inadequate lover and that she could do better.

"What will you be like, Tom, when we're married- will we still do this?"

"Well of course!" I smirked, kissing her head. "We'd maybe even go on honeymoon- what do you think?"

"But would we still be doing this- lying here like this?" She raised her head to look at me. "They say everything changes when you marry, though, don't they?"

"We won't be like your parents." I whispered, pulling her a little closer. I felt her momentarily freeze against me and wondered if I'd maybe overstepped the mark; she'd never spoken to me much about her parents at all.

"We're already like my parents," she whispered back, resting her head on my shoulder, "I'm moody and touchy and always storming off; and you're... Well you're nothing like my dad... But what if you end up that way?" Her voice trembled and I could feel tears beginning to trickle down my chest. "What about when we get worse- all the fighting?"

I kept quiet; I doubted there was anything I could say so I caressed her arms and scalp instead.

"I'm not good for you, Tom." She whispered, "we're only ever going to fight and hurt each other. I'm a bad girl and I'd be a bad wife and drag you down with me."

For once, however, she didn't sound hysterical; her voice was emotionless, as though she were stating a mere matter of fact.

"Is it... Being a wife you're worried about?" I murmured, pulling the top of her ear into my mouth and giving a gentle, affectionate tug. She didn't reply, just turned her head aside. "Marriage isn't that important to me, Alice. It's just something I always thought would happen, but not if it makes you unhappy..." I felt uncomfortable with the silence and wanted to draw Alice out into conversation. "Did you ever want to get married?"

"No." She whispered back, "I never thought about marriage, it's never been important to me. It's just words, it won't make us more solid- words spoken by a priest to a God you don't even believe in."

"I'm not going to trap you in a marriage you don't believe in, Alice, you deserve better than that."

"Ain't like that, Tom- not like you make it sound. It's not that I don't want you, or don't want to commit to you- it's just that I've never liked the idea of marriage. Seems like all the bad and none of the good of being in love. Oppression, confinement, 'till death us do part' it's not me. I've been owned and confined before; first by my parents, then by Lizzie. I'd only give up my freedom again for you. I'd give it up for you in a heartbeat. But I want that to be a choice; not something I've been forced to do because of some promise I once made."

"Then I won't make you." I whispered back, kissing her head. "I love you, Alice. Whatever this means for us." I slid the ring off my finger and placed it in her palm, kissing her fingers as I folded them closed.

"I do still love you, Tom- even more so because of this. Thank you for letting me be me."

She also took her ring off and gave it back to me, I took them and placed them both in my breeches pocket.

"Alice... I didn't know you believed in God?" I smirked against her head.

"Yeah," she smirked back as she kissed me.

"Since when?"

"Since always." She grinned as though daring me to challenge her.

"You really are full of surprises." I said.

"Are you saying I'm not the sort of girl to believe in God?" She lightly slapped my chest.

"That's the haughty, argumentative Alice I know!" I teased.

She shut me up with a kiss.


End file.
